FLAIR TALK - October 2016

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In a society that weighs a woman’s fate with motherhood, surrogacy comes to the rescue of those in despair, the desperate childless parents. Legally the right to procreate is one of the most important rights of all living beings; it forms part of natural rights as well as right to life as pronounced by the courts of law across the world, though most of the religions have a divided opinion over this. Some individuals or couples are devoid of this right, maybe due to nature (biological) or the societal norms. Well, where there is will there is a way and medical technology paved the way to rescue the deprived with a viable solution of ‘surrogacy’. But the increasing demand from the desired persons to have their own child from surrogacy led to some serious cases of exploitation of surrogate mothers as well as legal complications due to absence of provisions addressing the advancement in the colonial laws. The growing economic and psychological exploitation of women from the weaker sections of the society drove the Government of India to propose stringent measures to regulate the practice and procedure pertaining to surrogacy in India. However, in practice, a plain reading of provisions of the Bill clearly indicate the unfavourable intention of legislature i.e. to minimalize the instances of legal surrogacies. Several restrictions like prohibiting unmarried persons, homosexuals, transgenders etc. from commissioning surrogacy, imposing mandatory waiting period before commissioning surrogacy are only a few problems to name in the new law. How do these restrictions hamper India’s image in global health care? Whether this will prevent exploitation or simply create a black market and worsen the situation? These and more questions are sought to be answered in this month’s cover story by Sonali Kusum, a PhD research scholar.