Parliament Passes Surrogacy Bill Amid Uproar, National Surrogacy Board To Be Constituted

The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 was passed in Parliament on Friday.

The Lok Sabha house passed the bill by voice vote while the opposition party was protesting demanding the removal of Ajay Mishra, the Union minister in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. The bill was passed by Rajya Sabha last week after making amendments and returned to the lower house on December 14.

Surrogacy Bill, 2019: What is it about?

The bill will be constituting a National Surrogacy Board and the state surrogacy boards wherein authorities will be appointed for the regulation of the process and practice of surrogacy. The bill was earlier by Lok Sabha in August 2019 when it was sent to Rajya Sabha for its vote. The Upper house then sent it to a committee for further deliberation.

The opposition was making uproar in the Parliament asking the ruling party to remove its Union Minister who's son Ashish Mishra was accused in Lakhimpur Kheri violence case of October 3, 2021. Mishra had allegedly crashed his car into a group pf farmers who were protesting there killing eight people. Four of them were farmers.

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As per the 228th report of the Law Commission, the government was recommended to bring about a legislation which can ensure that there is only restrictive surrogacy in the country and all kinds of commercial surrogacy is banned in the country. As per the Statement of Objects and Reasons part of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill of 2019 only Indian couples who are legally married for at least five years can be allowed to choose surrogacy as a way to conceive their child. The bill seeks to "allow ethical altruistic surrogacy to the intending infertile Indian married couple between the age of 23-50 years and 26-55 years for female and male, respectively".

The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation)Bill, 2020 was also passed by the Lok Sabha earlier this month. The purposes of the bill to is establish a national registry and authority for all clinics and medical professionals working in the reproductive technology field.