Varanasi/Uttar Pradesh (Times of India) : The subject of surrogate motherhood raises many ethical and legal
issues. Surrogacy needs to be strictly regulated, said Justice BS
Chauhan, judge, Supreme Court. He was delivering a lecture on 'Law and
morality with special reference to surrogacy' in the faculty of law,
Banaras Hindu University, held as part of the 150th birth anniversary
celebrations of Mahamana Madan Mohan Malviya.
Surrogacy cases on the rise in India
‘Parental orders’ were granted following surrogacy to transfer the child from the surrogate mother to the commissioning parents, The Independent reported. This process, driven particularly by Indian agencies, has risen from 47 times in 2007 and 133 in 2011, the study said. But the real figures are believed to be much higher, and experts have warned of the increasing exploitation of women living in poverty who undergo the pregnancies to raise money.
According to the study, women rent their wombs for about USD 16,000 to USD 32,000. Commercial surrogacy is permitted in the US and in many other countries including India, where it was legalised in 2002. But it is banned in Britain and only expenses may be paid making it difficult for UK couples where neither partner is able to bear children to find women prepared to volunteer for the role.
‘We have clinicians in this country who have links with overseas clinics. That was stopped with international adoption years ago. I don`t think the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has been strong enough on this,’ Marilyn Crawshaw, author of the research and senior lecturer at the University of York, said.
‘There is concern about child trafficking. The World Health Organisation held a meeting on this. Parents desperate to have children will pay thousands of pounds to foreign agencies to arrange the birth of their child. Natalie Gamble, a lawyer specialising in surrogacy cases, said important regulations were in place to protect children at risk from international trafficking, but there were no safeguards in place for overseas surrogacy.
The practise follows a decline in international adoptions, which has plummeted to its lowest point in 15 years.
TAIWAN to mull legalizing surrogacy
TAIPEI (The China Post) : The Taiwan government will soon hold
a meeting to discuss regulations related to surrogacy in Taiwan, an
official from the Bureau of Health Promotion under the Department of
Health said yesterday.
A draft Surrogacy Act covering over 40 regulations was drawn up in 2004 but after more than 20 international meetings, experts failed to reach consensus on legal issues pertaining to sperm and egg donations, the rights of surrogate mothers, biological parents, and children, the bureau's Deputy Director-General Kung Hsien-lan said.
The department will discuss whether to include those issues in the artificial reproduction bill or establish a new law in the near future, with a view to lifting the ban on surrogacy, Kung said.
Kung said she hopes to implement as soon as possible the conclusions reached at a meeting in September to allow infertile couples to donate healthy eggs and sperm for surrogate births.
The government should provide legal protections for all parties involved and ensure that surrogate mothers will be given money only for necessary expenses rather than as a reward, she said.
Over 5,000 infertile couples in Taiwan who were eager to have children of their own have sought surrogate mothers outside the law since they cannot afford to pay for surrogacy in other countries, said Kuomintang Legislator Chiang Huei-chen at the conference with Kung.
A new regulation covering the relationship between rights and obligations should be established as part of the solutions to key identity authentication issues, said Kuo Chuan-ching of the Department of Legal Affairs under the Ministry of Justice.
The surrogacy issue came to the fore after Lien Hui-hsin, the eldest daughter of Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan, recently had three daughters via two surrogate mothers in the United States.
A draft Surrogacy Act covering over 40 regulations was drawn up in 2004 but after more than 20 international meetings, experts failed to reach consensus on legal issues pertaining to sperm and egg donations, the rights of surrogate mothers, biological parents, and children, the bureau's Deputy Director-General Kung Hsien-lan said.
The department will discuss whether to include those issues in the artificial reproduction bill or establish a new law in the near future, with a view to lifting the ban on surrogacy, Kung said.
Kung said she hopes to implement as soon as possible the conclusions reached at a meeting in September to allow infertile couples to donate healthy eggs and sperm for surrogate births.
The government should provide legal protections for all parties involved and ensure that surrogate mothers will be given money only for necessary expenses rather than as a reward, she said.
Over 5,000 infertile couples in Taiwan who were eager to have children of their own have sought surrogate mothers outside the law since they cannot afford to pay for surrogacy in other countries, said Kuomintang Legislator Chiang Huei-chen at the conference with Kung.
A new regulation covering the relationship between rights and obligations should be established as part of the solutions to key identity authentication issues, said Kuo Chuan-ching of the Department of Legal Affairs under the Ministry of Justice.
The surrogacy issue came to the fore after Lien Hui-hsin, the eldest daughter of Kuomintang Honorary Chairman Lien Chan, recently had three daughters via two surrogate mothers in the United States.
Time to regulate surrogacy in India
Women's Feature Service : Surrogacy in India continues to remain a very sensitive topic. The laws
meant to regulate surrogacy are still in nascent stages, as they are
stuck at various legislative levels.
The only guidelines currently related to this field are those of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which date back to 2006.
Meanwhile, surrogacy is growing rapidly by the day, thanks to India emerging as a centre for medical tourism and being one of the few countries in the world where commercial surrogacy is widely available. Estimates for the value of this industry range from Rs 20 billion to 2.3 billion US dollars.
The legal situation in India is in sharp contrast to that existing in many other countries. In Germany and Canada surrogacy is outlawed or prohibited, in the United Kingdom it is highly regulated and very expensive.
The only guidelines currently related to this field are those of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), which date back to 2006.
Meanwhile, surrogacy is growing rapidly by the day, thanks to India emerging as a centre for medical tourism and being one of the few countries in the world where commercial surrogacy is widely available. Estimates for the value of this industry range from Rs 20 billion to 2.3 billion US dollars.
The legal situation in India is in sharp contrast to that existing in many other countries. In Germany and Canada surrogacy is outlawed or prohibited, in the United Kingdom it is highly regulated and very expensive.
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