Bill stuck, no check on surrogacy business

New Delhi (Indian Express/Abantika Ghosh) : Earlier this month, a 28-year-old woman in Madhya Pradesh's Satna gave birth to 10 still-born babies. While multiple pregnancies are not unusual, pregnancies with three or more babies are almost always associated with assisted reproductions. In July, an NGO released findings of a survey that exposed largescale exploitation of surrogate mothers by forcing them to stay away from families in shelter homes, handing them Rs 3-4 lakh for a pregnancy that is actually creating business worth 10 times that amount. Several cities of Gujarat, including Ahmedabad and Anand, have become surrogacy hubs of India.

Lack of coherent guidelines on assisted reproductive techniques and surrogacy have over the years caused suffering and cost several lives, yet a legislation that was to have brought some method to the madness continues to hang fire over, among other things, moral debates about the sexual orientation of parents and their marital status.
Yet another Parliament session has passed by and the Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ART) Bill 2010 — in the drafting stage for three years now and in the pipleine for a decade — is not even ready to go to the cabinet.

Gaps in surrogacy bill

The Hindu (Aarti Dhar) : Women’s health activists have asked the Centre not to rush into finalising the ‘Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Regulation) Bill, 2013’ and, instead, hold wider deliberations with women’s rights organisations, queer rights, human rights and legal rights organisations across the country.

In its response to the Draft Bill, Sama Resource Group for Women and Health, while appreciating the initiative of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) for making efforts to regulate the booming Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) industry, including commercial surrogacy, in the country, has said though the Bill acknowledges the importance and significance of ethical practices in the context of ART services, in the present form, it is inadequate in protecting and safeguarding the rights and health of women going for IVF techniques, recruited as surrogates and children born through commercial surrogacy.   

It also lacks setting the standards for medical practice and completely ignores the regulation of the third party agents who play pivotal role in arranging surrogates such as surrogacy agents, tourism operators and surrogacy home operators. 

“The Draft Bill should effectively regulate and monitor consultancies, surrogacy agents, surrogacy home operators, private agencies and travel/tourism firms, law firms involved in offering and promoting ART and surrogacy services.” 

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)?”