Delhi High Court has questioned the association of marital status with eligibility for surrogacy under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021.The petitioner challenged Section 2(1)(s) of the Surrogacy Act, which limits the right to avail surrogacy to Indian widows or female divorcees between the ages of 35 and 45.The petitioner’s plea also challenges the regulation that compels a single woman (widow or divorcee) to utilize her own eggs for surrogacy. Due to her age, using her own gametes is medically inadvisable, and she seeks a donor for female gametes.
Surrogacy
- Surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman (the surrogate) agrees to carry and give birth to a child on behalf of another person or couple (the intended parent/s).
- A surrogate, sometimes also called a gestational carrier, is a woman who conceives, carries and gives birth to a child for another person or couple (intended parent/s).
Altruistic Surrogacy
- It involves no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance coverage during the pregnancy.
Commercial Surrogacy
- It includes surrogacy or its related procedures undertaken for a monetary benefit or reward (in cash or kind) exceeding the basic medical expenses and insurance coverage.
Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021
- Under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, a woman who is a widow or a divorcee between the age of 35 to 45 years or a couple, defined as a legally married woman and man, can avail of surrogacy if they have a medical condition necessitating this option.
- The intended couple shall be a legally married Indian man and woman, the man shall be between the ages of 26-55 years and the woman shall be between the ages of 25-50 years, and shall not have any previous biological, adopted, or surrogate child.
- It also bans commercial surrogacy, which is punishable with a jail term of 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 10 lakhs.
- The law allows only altruistic surrogacy where no money exchanges hands and where a surrogate mother is genetically related to those seeking a child.