New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind has given assent to the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021. According to the report of news agency, it was published in the government gazette immediately after the approval on Saturday.
The bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on December 8. After this, it was passed in the Lok Sabha on 17 December. The law prohibits surrogacy on a commercial scale and allows only altruistic surrogacy.
Surrogacy commercialization is now illegal
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 was approved by the Parliament on December 17. Provision has been made in this law to give legal recognition to surrogacy or surrogacy in the country and to make its commercialization illegal. Surrogacy is a method in which a woman carries the child of a couple desirous of having children in her womb. After birth, the child is handed over to the couple.
These women can take advantage
This bill was passed in the Lok Sabha long ago, but after coming to the Rajya Sabha, it was sent to the Select Committee. After getting approval with an amendment in Rajya Sabha, it was again passed by Lok Sabha. The bill states that widows and married women can take advantage of surrogacy. Not only this, but divorced women can also take advantage of surrogacy.
The surrogate mother must be married
Foreign couples have to comply with the laws of India for surrogacy. Not only this but there is also a provision in the new law that if there is any kind of disorder in the child, then in such a case he cannot be released.
Women in the age group of 23 to 50 years can use surrogacy. To become a surrogate mother, a woman must be married. Not only this, a woman can become a surrogate mother only once.
…So that surrogacy is not misused
These provisions have been brought so that commercial use of surrogacy cannot be done. With the new law, there will be no apprehension of exploitation of women. In the new law, the age has also been fixed for those who donate sperm and eggs.
This is the difference between commercial and charitable surrogacy
In an altruistic surrogacy, the surrogate mother is not paid any financial compensation other than medical expenses and insurance coverage during the gestation period, whereas in commercial surrogacy, the surrogate mother is paid financial compensation apart from medical expenses and insurance coverage.