Surrogacy (Regulation) bill 2020 and its implications on the reproductive tourism industry in India

Abstract

Surrogacy in India is an unfettered and unregulated practice which is being carried out blatantly without any legal sanction. The guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research to regulate clinics running Surrogacy arrangements under the umbrella of Artificial Reproductive Technique are the current driving force of this Fertility Tourism Industry. The codified law is yet to be adopted and implemented. The growth in the assisted reproductive technology (ART) methods is the recognition of the fact that infertility as a medical condition is a huge impediment in the overall well-being of couples and cannot be overlooked, especially in a patriarchal society like India. A woman is respected as a wife only if she is a mother of a child so that her husband's masculinity and sexual potency is proved and the lineage continues. The practice of nourishing another's fetus in the womb is known as surrogacy. Surrogacy has been the most contentious use of ARTs. These include the possibility of finding substitutes not only for parental genetic material but also for the womb. Surrogacy is a tripartite agreement which includes the intending parents, the surrogacy clinics, and the surrogate woman who agree to commission a pregnancy on behalf of another woman, ready to relinquish all her rights on the child born out of the arrangement for a monetary remuneration. The practice of surrogacy involves social, moral, legal, ethical, and scientific issues in an attempt to harmonize conflicting interests. This paper will focus on the new Surrogacy Bill 2020 and its implications on the medical infertility tourism industry in India.