Panel looks at surrogacy through docs, mothers

All parties involved to be consulted to understand issues in commercial surrogacy, altruistic surrogacy, permissions to single parents and so on

NEW DELHI Members of a select committee of Rajya Sabha, examining the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2019, will visit Anand in Gujarat, Hyderabad and Mumbai from January 21 to 24 to examine if surrogacy should be

allowed for live-in couples and single intending parents and whether a ban on commercial surrogacy replaced by ‘altruistic surrogacy’ is a viable option.

The team will interact with surrogate mothers, ‘intending infertile couples’, doctors and health department officials to get a first-hand feedback on the process.

The 23-member select committee headed by Upper House BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav is mandated to draw up suggestions on eleven points including ban on commercial surrogacy, definition of a close relative who can

be a surrogate, whether single parents either male or female should be permitted to opt for surrogacy.

Sources told Mirror that the committee is keen on proposing that the identity of the surrogate should not be hidden unlike adoption. “A child may grow up and want to know who the surrogate mother was. In every

surrogacy, there are five people involved — the surrogate parents, the intending couple and the child. Everyone’s interests have to be taken care of…The committee will examine the pros and cons to this possibility and

recommend accordingly,” a member told Mirror.

In November, during the winter session of Parliament, the bill 2019 was sent for review after the Opposition raised objections. The bill sought to ban commercial surrogacy in India and proposed ‘altruistic surrogacy’ that

is a close relative opting to be the surrogate which is not on the basis of any compensation.

“This field visit will help understand the issues that surrogate mothers and the intending couples face. The doctors and the health department will help the committee address the challenges better.

After visiting Anand and Hyderabad, the team will meet IVF specialists in Mumbai,” another member told Mirror.