Is this even a thing in India anymore?

When I started researching on this subject, I had made up my mind that I definitely want to talk to a professional or a parent or some agency about it. Little did I know I would have such a tough time finding someone who was willing to share any kind of information with me. I reached out, possibly, on all social media platforms, friends, families, colleagues. It was just getting tougher and tougher to find someone, I almost gave up. Until an old friend helped me connect with a Supreme Court lawyer, who was willing to talk to me.

But before I get into my conversation with her, I would like to draw out a timeline on the surrogacy rulings in India:

The following write-up is based on my conversation with Supreme Court lawyer Ms. Pooja Dhar, a resident of Delhi.

A lot of changes have happened in the last two decades. Surrogacy was very much legal and commercial surrogacies were happening, but then came the ban when the surrogacy bill was passed. It was an unfortunate ruling because a potential source of income for women suddenly stopped. This was mainly because of the middlemen who were involved in getting these women to be surrogates and things got murky when payments were not made to these women.

Today what is allowed in the name of surrogacy is only altruistic surrogacy, which means no money can exchange hands. Partieds involved in commercial surrogacy go face a strict punitive action of Rs. 10L and jail time for 10 years. And even if you want to have a baby through altruistic surrogacy you have to prove that you cannot naturally produce children. But that is not enough, you need to go to the medical board to get it approved and only if it is done can you opt for surrogacy. A process similar to organ donation.

Under the new surrogacy rule, the traditional method of surrogacy is not possible - where the egg of the surrogate mother is fertilised using the sperm of the intended father. In the case that an intended mother cannot produce an egg, you must then go look for an egg donor, who can donate her eggs to be fertilised by the intended father’s sperm.

Another thing, the woman who is willing to be a surrogate, has to be a mother herself and must have a history of a full pregnancy through natural means. 

I then told Ms. Dhar that I have heard of cases, in which a sibling is willing to have a child for another sibling and hand over the kid post deliver, no strings attached, but according to Ms. Dhar that doesn’t fall under the definition of surrogacy, it’s more on the lines of adoption

I then proceeded to inquire about the emotional toll the surrogacy rules might have on intended parents. She said that everyone involved should have their rights and she is of the opinion that commercial surrogacy should be allowed. It is a means of earning money for women. Get rid of the middlemen and by all means we must have strong regulations too.

She further added, imagine the plight of a single father who wants to have a child through surrogacy. A single father is disallowed to have a child through surrogacy, but is allowed to adopt. Why? What about people of the LGBTQA+ community, what if they want to have a child? And what happens to parents who do not want to have a child through natural means?

Unfortunately the law for commercial surrogacy will not change any time soon in the near future but one can hope and if it does happen, we must implement strong laws, contracts, taxation processes and just make the whole process transparent in order for all parties to be safe and secure. One can look forward to earning some money and another can look forward to becoming parents. It’s a win-win.