It's end to rent-a-womb business; Centre cracks down on commercial surrogacy

The billion dollar commercial surrogacy industry in India could soon come to a grinding halt. The Union cabinet on Wednesday cleared a Bill to completely ban commercial surrogacy in India, especially for foreigners, and only allow altruistic surrogacy with conditions attached.

As per the Bill, which will be introduced in parliament in the winter session, no new surrogacy clinics will be allowed and a new board will be set up to monitor surrogacy disputes.

"When people talk of a trade in organs they mostly talk of kidneys," external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters. "But this is a business of wombs, where poor women are exploited." Swaraj, who chaired the Group of Ministers that deliberated on the issue, came down heavily on all aspects of that industry, often called 'wombs for rent'. Detailing the changes that the GoM had made to the draft of the surrogacy Bill, aimed at protecting the rights of surrogate mothers, Swaraj said only couples wed by law can avail altruistic surrogacy, that too through "close relatives".

No foreign couples, no PIO and OCI card holders, no single parents, no live-in couples and no homosexual couples will be allowed to have children via surrogacy in India. India will become one of the last countries to ban commercial surrogacy.

"Close relatives is our expansion on the UK law, the oldest surrogacy law in the world," said Swaraj, adding that the UK law, which the GoM studied closely, only allowed blood relatives. It also holds the surrogate mother as the legal mother.

She also stressed that "we don't recognise live-in couples and homosexual couples, we don't want to entitle them to surrogacy".

During the deliberations of the GoM, say those privy to the proceedings, all ministers were unanimous about not allowing homosexual and live-in couples to avail surrogacy. Swaraj herself said that often the GoM leant towards banning surrogacy entirely but decided that the state shouldn't interfere when close relatives wanted to help a couple medically unfit to have children.

This unfitness has to be proved through a medical certificate. Additionally, the couple needs a parentage order by their district magistrate, which also decides which parent gets primary custody of the child in case of a divorce.

They need a health insurance plan for the upkeep of the surrogate mother during and for a few months after her pregnancy.

Couples also need to be married for at least five years and they should not already have a biological or an adopted child. This, said Swaraj, could lead to discrimination between the adopted child and the one born through surrogacy.

The Bill requires surrogate mothers to be married with at least one healthy child. A woman can only be a surrogate mother once in her life. For abandoning a child or exploiting a woman the punishment is at least 10 years and a Rs. 10 lakh fine.

"We hear of poor women being exploited, girl children and differently-abled babies being abandoned, surrogate children being abandoned after divorces because no one wants custody," said Swaraj, listing the perceived ills of commercialising the practice. "What was once a need is now a fashion. Celebrities with two children have a third through surrogacy. Wives don't want to go through childbirth so they rent wombs," said Swaraj scathingly.

This new Bill, she said, was a revolutionary step for the rights of women.

All is not clear, however, as questions on breastfeeding go unanswered. The health ministry stresses on six months' breastfeeding for a healthy child. However, that could lead to an emotional attachment between the baby and the surrogate mother.

Banned:

Foreign couples, couples with PIO/OCI cards, single parents, live-in, homosexual couples can't rent wombs in India

Spared:

Altruistic surrogacy allowed for couples legally married for 5 years, with no biological or adopted children

Surrogates:

Married women, who are close relatives of the couple and have had at least one healthy child, can become surrogate mothers, once in their lives

Punishment:

Minimum 10 years' jail and Rs.10 lakh fine for couples and clinics that abandon a child born through surrogacy, or exploit the surrogate mother