ARCHIVES
VOL. 3, ISSUE 2 (2021)
Surrogacy– Ethical or commercial
Authors
Smriti Raturi
Abstract
Infertility affects about one out of every six couples. Since the 1970s, the number of infertile couples has increased worldwide. Reasons varied from biological incapacities to conceive, to stress, anxiety or lack of time. Increase in number of working women who wish to marry late and therefore bear children late, has also effected the average child bearing age, which has come upto 22 years. In the past, couples unable to conceive were expected to turn to adoption to achieve their parenthood dreams. Over the years the social attitudes towards medical interventions like IVF have changed. As a result, infertile couples have become less reluctant to seek help, which is reflected in the higher percentage of infertile couples registered by the Fertility Clinics. Moreover, there are many options available for infertile couples, as well as singles and homosexuals who want children. The urge of motherhood leads childless couples to seek alternative solutions like Artificial Reproductive Technology, In-Vitro Fertilisation, Intra-Uterine Injections etc infusing hope into many infertile couples, who long to have a child of their own genetic makeup. Urge to have a child of own genetic make-up creats a sense of completeness among these couples. With advances in medical sciences and technology, particularly in assisted reproductive techniques which have come in with techniques like donor insemination, embryo transfer methods, etc. revolutionizing the reproductive environment such methods such as ‘surrogacy’ are also gaining popularity. India is becoming a popular destination for surrogacy arrangements to many foreigners especially rich westerners. Further, the Indian Govt. has built medical tourism into its National Health Policy, which “strongly encourages” medical providers to seek foreign clients. Amit Sengupta, a health analyst and associate coordinator in People’s Health Movement, points out that it is an irony that in our country where only 17.3 percent of women have had any contact with a health worker and a very large number of women are denied basic health care, women from across the globe flock India to take advantage of the booming market for assisted reproductive technologies. With the entry of financial arrangements in exchange of surrogate child, the child becomes a ‘saleable commodity’. Thus, complications arise and issues got involved such as the rights of the surrogate mother, the child and the commissioning parents. The present research paper tries to study the issues related to surrogacy and surrogacy arrangements and seeks to find out whether Indian laws are equipped to deal with urgencies arising out of such arrangements. If not, what could be the probable legal mechanisms which could be adopted to deal with the issues arising out of surrogacy.
Download
Pages:20-22
How to cite this article:
Smriti Raturi "Surrogacy– Ethical or commercial ". International Journal of Law, Policy and Social Review, Vol 3, Issue 2, 2021, Pages 20-22
Download Author Certificate
Please enter the email address corresponding to this article submission to download your certificate.