A bill proposing a complete ban on commercial surrogacy and placing several restrictions and conditions on altruistic surrogacy has been cleared by the Union Cabinet. Although the bill has to go through Parliament to become law, India is now
firmly on the road to ending commercial surrogacy, which has turned into a $400 million market in the country. The new bill seeks to bar unmarried couples, single parents,
live-in partners and homosexuals from opting for surrogacy. Under this bill only legally wedded couples married for at least five years will be allowed to have surrogate children. Foreigners, NRIs and PIOs who hold overseas citizen of India cards have also been barred from opting for surrogate children. Only close relatives of the couple will be allowed to act as surrogate
mothers and a woman who offers her womb will be allowed
to do so once. The bill also removes ambiguity over who is the
mother. It clearly states that the woman wanting the child will
be the mother. It also states that the
surrogate child will enjoy the same
right as any other biological child.
That, by and large, sums up the intent
behind the bill and the resolve
of the government to stamp out
commercial surrogacy. India is one
of the few countries where commercial
surrogacy is allowed, a status
that has allowed it to draw couples from abroad seeking surrogate
mothers, enough to be labeled as ‘surrogate tourism’.
On the face of it, the bill could be interpreted as a blow to
poorer families and women who had a chance to make some
money by acting as surrogates. But in reality an exploitative
system has arisen which is akin to prostitution. Middlemen
and agents are the ones who make the most money, while the
women, mostly from rural areas, are exploited. It is just another
way of turning the woman’s body into a commodity for commercial
exploitation. The lack of a proper law has resulted in
uncontrolled growth of surrogacy clinics. Presently, the agreement
between the couple wanting a child and the surrogate
mother is considered as a valid in the eyes of law. Although
guidelines issued by the Indian Council for Medical Research
in 2005 clearly stated that surrogacy should not be undertaken
for commercial purposes, they were followed in the breach.
The surrogacy market, if one can call it that, is an exploitative
one. Although the US allows commercial surrogacy and
it is a huge source of revenue, drawing couples from Europe,
stricter norms there reduce chances of exploitation. In India,
where implementation of the law is lax, exploitation becomes
the norm. The Union government is right in adopting a hard
stance against surrogacy in a bid to end commercialization of
the womb and exploitation of poor women who rarely have a
choice in the matter. The new bill is therefore, a way forward
on this vexing issue.
