Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday said that the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, is "very complicated" and opposed the provision in the Bill which allows only a 'close relative' to be a surrogate mother.
Ramesh, also a former Union Minister, has advised Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan to present the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill before the Surrogacy Bill.
During a debate over the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, in the Rajya Sabha, Ramesh said: "It is a very complicated bill. It is not an easy bill to understand. The Standing Committee took over a year to deliberate over it ..."
"We all agree that surrogacy should be regulated, but what should be the form of regulation is under debate. When I was in the Standing Committee, I was actually pleasantly surprised to see the demographic figures for infertility in the country," he said.
Ramesh said that contrary to what most of us believe, infertility is a "serious problem in India."
"It is easy to be mesmerised by the fact that we are 1.3 billion, but the fact is that the incidents of infertility in India is not insubstantial. What came as a revelation to be was that infertility is actually on the rise," he said.
"I am not getting into the social compulsions of surrogacy because infertile couples are still seen in this country to be a blot. They are still subject to criticism and sometimes even segregation in society. I am leaving aside the social factors, but purely from a demographic factor, we must understand infertility is not insignificant in India and the incidents of infertility are actually increasing," he said.
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Ramesh further stated that one of the important recommendations of the Standing Committee, which has been ignored, is that the Surrogacy Bill should come after the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill.
"It does not make sense to have the Surrogacy Bill in the absence of the legislation governing the technology of surrogacy. You are controlling surrogacy and not addressing the problem of the technology of the surrogacy," Ramesh said.
"This is mind-boggling that we are going to be passing a bill which is going to make only a close relative a surrogate mother. This flies in the face of our understanding of Indian families, of Indian society and I am absolutely surprised that a bill can come in this fashion that only surrogacy will be restricted to a close relative ... This will drive surrogacy out of the market. There will not be any surrogacy left," he added.
Ramesh said that the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, will put an end to any form of surrogacy.
"If we recognise that infertility is a problem, if we recognise that infertility is on the rise, if we recognise that people want surrogacy, there are couples who want surrogacy, then this Bill is wrong because it will put an end to any form of surrogacy, because we can't expect that only the sister or the sister-in-law or some close relative is going to come forward," he said.
"This is going to create more emotional problems, more psychological problems than we can imagine. So, this close relative thing is a very dangerous element in this bill and I request the minister to have a look at it," he added.
The Lok Sabha had in August passed the Bill which prohibits commercial surrogacy and allows "altruistic surrogacy" which does not involve monetary compensation to the surrogate mother apart from medical expenses and insurance coverage during the pregnancy.
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, was passed in the Lok Sabha after a reply by Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan.
The Bill seeks to prohibit exploitation of surrogate mothers and children born through surrogacy and allows "ethical surrogacy" to the needy infertile Indian couples. It allows surrogacy for couples who suffer from proven infertility and says they should have a 'certificate of essentiality' and a 'certificate of eligibility' issued by the appropriate authorities.
The Bill says surrogacy clinics cannot undertake surrogacy related procedures unless they are registered by the appropriate authority. The offences under the Bill include undertaking or advertising commercial surrogacy, exploiting the surrogate mother, abandoning, exploiting or disowning a surrogate child and selling or importing human embryo or gametes for surrogacy.
The Bill was passed by the previous Lok Sabha in December 2018 but lapsed with its dissolution.