Salient Features of Bill:
- The bill bans commercial surrogacy with penal provisions of jail term of up to 10 years and fine of up to ₹10 lakh.
- It allows only close Indian relatives to be surrogate mothers and purely for “altruistic” reasons, thus the surrogate mother will not be paid any compensation except medical expenses and insurance.
- It limits the option to only legally married childless couples who have been trying for a child for at least five years. It states an Indian infertile couple, married for five years or more, can go in for ‘altruistic surrogacy’.
- The Bill now requires all surrogacy clinics to be registered.
- Clinics can charge for these services but the surrogate mother cannot be paid.
- The national and state surrogacy boards will be the regulating authorities.
Need of Bill:
- India had become a hub of commercial surrogacy and surrogate mothers were being exploited.
- There have been several reports about the exploitation of surrogate mothers, women who are kept confined in “hostels” during pregnancy and not allowed to meet their families, women who do it repeatedly for a paltry amount thus putting their own bodies at risk.
- CII figures say surrogacy is a $2.3 billion industry fed by lack of regulation and poverty.
- The 228th report of the Law Commission had recommended prohibition of commercial surrogacy.
- Commercial surrogacy is allowed only in Russia, Ukraine and California.
