On Wednesday, the Rajya Sabha passed two bills governing and supervising ‘Assisted reproductive technology in clinics and surrogacy. The Lok Sabha passed the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2021, on December 1.
 In the Upper House, it was approved by voice vote. The House also passed The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020, with amendments, amid sloganeering by opposition members protesting the suspension of 12 members.
The Lok Sabha had previously passed the proposed bill, but it had been referred to a Select Committee by the Rajya Sabha. It will now be sent back to the Lok Sabha for consideration. In the Rajya Sabha, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya stated that both Bills aim to prevent unethical practices related to sex selection and surrogate exploitation.
“These bills have been pending for a long time. Couples would travel to India, buy wombs, and return with children. On October 3, 1978, Kanupriya, India’s first test tube baby, was born. IVF and surrogacy have been practised in India for decades,”
according to the minister, who also stated that it had become more than necessary to regulate both assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy inside the nation.
In 2014, a 26-year-old female died due to abnormalities during egg retrieval, according to the minister. “Ovaries are stimulated in the ART process so that eggs can be extracted. He explained, “This is a highly technical procedure that must be governed.”
“Unmarried women sell their wombs to help them get through financial difficulties.” This should not be the case. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, a 74-year-old woman gave birth to twins. How will an older adult raise their children? It’s physically unpleasant and unethical,” the minister said, adding that there are unregulated IVF clinics throughout the country, as well as available surrogacy, implying that sex selection occurs in both directions.
Mandaviya went on to say that the Select Committee made 64 recommendations to the government, many of which were incorporated into the Surrogacy Bill. “They also recommended that perhaps the ART and Surrogacy Bills be combined because otherwise the intent would be defeated.”
And we’ve done it,” he said, contributing that the Bills’ goal was to endorse motherhood rather than to start creating “a commercial gain-making industry.” According to the minister, this is why the government has made it so that a woman can only be a surrogate once.
Mandaviya went on to say that in the case of ART, a year’s insurance would be required. In the case of surrogacy, the government has made it mandatory to provide insurance for 36 months to cover any post-birth comorbidities or general health issues.
Criticism by Opposition
Opposing the Bill, Ajit Kumar Bhuyan from the Congress party said, “The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020, with its intention to prohibit commercial surrogacy, is another another illustration of how out of touch our legislators are with reality….. It outlaws commercial surrogacy & permits solely ‘ethical’, altruistic surrogacy, which is considered to really be ‘ethical’ due to the fact that it is non-commercial.
In the guise of governing surrogacy to prevent surrogate mothers and babies born via surrogacy from being exploited, this measure actually restricts the privileges of female surrogate mothers. The underlying but incorrect notion would be that removing the ‘commercial’ component will reduce abuse.”
Notwithstanding that some Opposition members criticising provisions that prevented single men and members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) societies from using this assistance, the bill passed.
Aim of the ART Bill
The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, introduced in 2021, intends to monitor and control assisted reproduction health centres and lenders, as well as inhibit their misappropriation.
Ensure the safe and ethical practices of assisted reproductive technology services for addressing reproductive health issues such as becoming a parent or freezing gametes, embryos, and embryonic tissues for future use due to infertility and other circumstances, among many different goals.
Why does India need this bill?
The number of ART centres in India has increased dramatically, as has the number of ART cycles performed each year. ART has given hope to thousands of infertile couples, but it has also raised a slew of legal, ethical, and social concerns.
ART clinics and ART banks will be regulated and supervised by the national board, state boards, national registry, and state registration authorities under the ART Bill.
