New Delhi (Business Standard) : There is an urgent need for a rights-based legal framework to
regulate surrogacy in India, an organisation working for social causes
said Thursday.
"The unregulated reproductive tourism industry of 'procreating' through surrogacy is rapidly increasing in India while
there is still no legal provision to safeguard the interests of all the
major stakeholders involved in the surrogacy arrangement," the Centre
for Social Research (CSR) said.
According to a study conducted by CSR in 2011-12, it was revealed that
though the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Regulation Bill, 2010
did bring forth certain important points for the legal framework to be
based on, it left out many crucial issues relating to surrogacy
arrangements, a release by CSR said.
"There are many issues besides sex selection and exploitation of the
poor surrogate mothers. There are countries that do not allow surrogacy.
What would the nationality of the child be when the intended parents
are from that country? About 48 percent couples opting for surrogacy are
foreigners," said CSR director Ranjana Kumari.
The 'rent-a-womb' procedure has thrown up a major debate on whether it
should be banned like a majority of countries have done or should there
be a law to regulate it.
"There have been cases when many countries refused to give citizenship
to children who were born through surrogate mothers in India. We need to
have a proper legal framework to decide on the rights of the child,
surrogate mother and the couple who becomes the custodian of the new
born," Ranjana Kumari added.
Slowly but steadily, India is emerging as a popular destination for surrogacy arrangements for many rich foreigners.
Cheap medical facilities, advanced reproductive technological know-how,
coupled with poor socio-economic conditions, and a lack of regulatory
laws in India in this regard combine to make India an attractive option,
she said.
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