Government still open to ideas to improve surrogacy bill, says health minister JP Nadda

NEW DELHI: Amid backlash from several clinics over India’s proposed surrogacy regulation bill, which some doctors have even termed as backward, health minister JP Nadda on Friday said that the government was still open to ideas to improve the legislation. At the same time, provisions in the bill that would safeguard women from being exploited and surrogate children from being abandoned or abused were non-negotiable, he said.

The surrogacy bill, approved on Wednesday, will now be deliberated by the Parliamentary Standing Committee. The government will study the committee’s recommendations before the bill is introduced for deliberation in the Parliament, said Nadda during a press briefing at the ministry.

“We are open to ideas. Right now, even the mental health bill has 124 amendments,” he said.

On claims that the bill did not take doctors' recommendations into consideration, Nadda stated that the bill was drafted after a wide consultation with 18 ministries, 22 states and 40 stakeholders, including NGOs and legal experts.

The government will also work to similarly regulate assisted reproductive technology like In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and sperm and ovum banks, according to Soumya Swaminathan, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Surrogacy is a rare practice among Indian couples, said Swaminathan. Only a mere 20% of the surrogate babies born in India actually belonged to Indian couples before foreign couples were banned from using this procedure here, she said.

The government banned foreign couples from availing surrogacy services in India last year. The country had become a favourable destination for foreign couples looking for surrogates as far back as 2009 and around 2,000 foreign babies were born to Indian surrogates every year, the health ministry stated in December 2015.
The cabinet approval to the Indian Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016 is a progressive step because it shows the government’s seriousness to regulate assisted reproductive technology and ensure that surrogate mothers are not exploited, according to Nadda. “It’s not a question of moral values, it’s about righteousness. Technological advancement has to be used in the right perspective.”