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Key aspects
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About
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Definition of Surrogacy
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It is a practice where a woman gives birth to a child for an intending couple with the intention to hand over the child after the birth to the intending couple.
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Regulation of surrogacy
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- The Act prohibits commercial surrogacy(carrier is paid), but allows altruistic surrogacy
- Altruistic surrogacy involves no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance coverage during the pregnancy.
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Purpose for which surrogacy is permitted
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- For intending couple who suffer from proven infertility.
- Altruistic and not for commercial purposes.
- Not for producing children for sale, prostitution or other forms of exploitation
- For any condition or disease specified through regulation.
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Eligibility criteria for intending couple
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They should have a certificate of essentiality and certificate of eligibility issued by appropriate authority.
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Certificate of eligibility
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- The intended couple shall be a legally married Indian man and woman for at least 5 years.
- The man shall be between the ages of 26-55 years and the woman shall be between the ages of 25-50 years.
- The intending couple shall not have any previous biological, adopted, or surrogate child.
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Certificate of essentiality
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- It is issued by District Medical Board when either the wife or the husband or both husband and wife have any medical conditions which indicates the necessity of gestational surrogacy.
- An order will be passed by Magistrate’s court that the custody of the child will be given to the intending parent.
- Insurance will also be provided to the surrogate mother for the period of 16 months.
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Eligibility criteria for surrogate mother
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To obtain a certificate of eligibility from the appropriate authority, the surrogate mother has to be
- A close relative of the intending couple
- A married woman having a child of her own
- 25 to 35 years old
- A surrogate only once in her lifetime
- Possess a certificate of medical and psychological fitness for surrogacy
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Registration of surrogacy clinics
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- Clinics must apply for registration within a period of 60 days from the date of appointment of the appropriate authority.
- Registration shall be renewed after every 3 years.
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Institutional mechanism
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- National level- Central government will appoint National Surrogacy Board.
- State level- The State governments will appoint State Surrogacy Board.
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2023 amendment
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- It stipulates that the donor eggs could not be used for gestational surrogacy (In-Vitro Fertilization).
- It is a type of assisted reproductive technology (ART) where sperm and an egg are fertilized outside of the human body.
- The fertilized egg is inserted in the uterus of the surrogate mother who keeps the child in her womb for that couple.
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Surrogacy(Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2024
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- The married couples to use a donor gamete on the condition that a District Magistrate Board certifies that either the husband or the wife suffers from a medical condition.
- Eligibility condition- It outlines that the child to be born through surrogacy must have at least one gamete from the intending parents.
- This implies that a married couple where both partners are unable to use their gametes due to an existing medical condition cannot opt for surrogacy.
- There is a separate rules for single women.
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Single women
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- Single women opting for surrogacy should be a divorcee or a widow.
- Single women undergoing surrogacy must use self-eggs and donor sperms to avail surrogacy procedure.
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