Foreigners need proof of citizenship for surrogacy

New Delhi (Deccan Herald) : If the Surrogacy Bill being drafted by the government is passed by Parliament, any foreign couple seeking a child to be born through surrogacy in India will have to first obtain a guarantee that the government of the country they reside in would allow them to take home the newborn.

The proposed legislation now being vetted by several ministries of the union government will make it mandatory for any foreign couple commissioning a surrogacy to obtain a written assurance from the government of the country of their residence or from that country’s embassy in India that the baby to be born would be permitted entry to their country as their biological child.

According to the draft Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, the couple will also have to furnish a certificate from the government of their country elucidating that it recognises surrogacy. The bill is being drafted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in consultation with Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Law and Justice.

The move is to ensure the citizenship of the child to be born through surrogacy is intended to pre-empt legal complications after the birth of the baby. The need to legally ensure the child’s citizenship in the country his or her biological parents reside in was felt after the harrowing experience that a German couple and their twins born to a surrogate mother in India went through between 2008 and 2010.

Jan Balaz and Susan Anna Lohla had to fight a protracted legal battle as German Embassy in New Delhi refused to issue passports to their twins, Nikolas and Leonard, who were born to an Indian surrogate mother in Gujarat in January 2008. The embassy pointed out that German laws did not recognize surrogacy as a means of parenthood.

WCD ministry suggests cash aid for surrogates

Source : Deccan Chronicle

New Delhi (Deccan Chronicle) : Considering the health risks that a surrogate entails, the women and child development ministry said that the proposed Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2013 should “incorporate provisions of compensation to the surrogate and her family in cases of any health complications or death.”
Also, the ministry said that there should be some provision in case the child born with any deficiency needs to be with the surrogate mother till it is handed over to the surrogate parents.

Centre plan: Surrogacy for all; Women’s wing wants the term ‘couple’ redefined

New Delhi (Deccan Chronicle | Teena Thacker) : The Union women and child development ministry has proposed that the health ministry allow surrogacy to everyone, including unmarried couples and those in live-in relationships.
In its comments on the proposed Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2013, the ministry has opined that the health ministry’s definition of ‘couple’ is narrow. The WCD wants the definition of “couple to include everyone who wants to avail ARTs and surrogacy, irrespective of marriage”.
Contrary to the health ministry’s draft Bill — that says that no woman shall act as surrogate for more than three successful births including their own children — the women and child development ministry has proposed to extend the same provision to four births (live and still births), including her own children with not less than a two-year interval between two deliveries.
The WCD is also of the view that women above 21 years of age with conditions like height below 140 cm, women with low Body Mass Index (BMI) and with high-risk conditions like cardio-vascular diseases, thyroid problems should be excluded.

Why can't surrogate mothers bond with child, asks plan panel

Planning Commission questions clause of draft ART Bill against breastfeeding

New Delhi (DNA/ Priyanka Sahay) : At which point does a surrogate mother relinquish her right over her baby? Expressing its annoyance with the health ministry’s recently proposed draft of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Bill, the Planning Commission has taken up with it the question of whether a surrogate mother does not have the right to breastfeed a baby after she delivers her.
The long-awaited draft ART (Regulation) Bill and Rules 2010 says a surrogate mother will have to relinquish all parental rights over the child. “In surrogacy, there is no breastfeeding as the couples usually do not want the child to bond with the surrogate mother after the delivery. But what happens to the rights of the mother thereafter? How are we going to reconcile with such questions?” asked commission member Sayeda Hameed. “What happens to the Janini Suraksha Yojna (JSY)? What about the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY)?”