25 ,September 2019
INTRODUCTION
‘Surrogate’ derives from the Latin word ‘Surrogatus’, which means a substitute, i.e., a person elected to act in place of another person. According to Black’s law dictionary, surrogacy means the process of carrying and birthing a child for another person. Surrogacy is a “well-known method of reproduction whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child she will not raise but hand over to a contracted party. She may be the child's genetic mother (the more traditional form for surrogacy) or she may be, as a gestational carrier, carry the pregnancy to delivery after having been implanted with an embryo. In some cases surrogacy is the only available option for parents who wish to have a child that is biologically related to them.”[1] Surrogacy helps an infertile couple to undergo the joys of parenthood. The Black’s law dictionary classifies surrogacy into two classes: ‘Gestational Surrogacy’ and ‘Traditional Surrogacy’. Surrogacy can be taken as commercial only when it is depending upon whether the surrogate mother is financially rewarded or not.
THE SURROGACY BILL 2016
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016, aims to baffle surrogacy in India by establishing National Surrogacy Board at Central Level, State Surrogacy Boards and some suitable Authorities in States and Union territories. The aimed legislation assures an effective regulation of surrogacy, interdict commercial surrogacy and grant ethical surrogacy to the needy Infertile couples.
The major objectives of the Bill are to provide reliable surrogacy services to the country, to provide selfless ethical surrogacy to the needy sterile Indian couples, to prohibit commercial surrogacy in the country including sale and purchase of the human embryo and gametes, to forbid surrogacy commercialization, to avoid potential victimization of surrogate mothers and to protect the rights of the child which is born through surrogacy.
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
The acceptance of the Surrogacy Bill, 2016 proposes a regulatory structure for the good surrogacy practices in India. The biggest flaw in the bill is the proposition of ban enforced by the bill on commercial surrogacy and ejection of foreign couples from availing surrogacy services. The possibility of development of a surrogate woman and the protection of interests of the mother and her child could have been ensured through the proper structure.
This Bill could have provided a model for establishing an efficient mechanism for assuring that the contracts for surrogacy can be made properly by the two parties without affecting the interests of the surrogate woman. Further, the bill can propose a process of “Vetting of Surrogacy Contracts”, which says that each and every contract of surrogacy shall be reviewed and examined by some appropriate authority. They can make it mandatory for the parties to submit their surrogacy contracts before the appropriate authority for inspecting prior to the foundation of surrogacy procedures. Only the contracts which are examined by the authority shall be considered as reliable, valid and legal. The projected National Surrogacy Board and the State Boards can easily enforce the method of “Vetting of Surrogacy Contracts”. Thus it is bowed that the restriction on commercial surrogacy is an improper way to deal the issue.
Issues such as these create a legal discourse that is highly skewed if there is no public participation and at times such discourse within the legal community also becomes very technically limited ignoring the human aspect of such things. But at Lloyd Law College, Top ba llb colleges in greater noida, this issue is sought to be resolved through the Legal Aid Awareness and Legal education drives for the public through the Legal Aid Clinic at the Lloyd Law College.
Author
PREKSHA GOYAL
BA.LLB Sem 4th