{"id":50702,"date":"2019-07-29T19:00:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T13:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?p=50702"},"modified":"2019-07-29T17:41:03","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T12:11:03","slug":"7-pm-respecting-reproductive-choice-29th-july-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-respecting-reproductive-choice-29th-july-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"7 PM | Respecting Reproductive Choice | 29th July, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Context:<\/strong> The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More in News:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019&nbsp;was re-introduced in the\nLok Sabha on July 15, 2019, having lapsed in December 2018 with the dissolution\nof Parliament. <\/li><li>The introduction of the\n2019 Bill, contains minimal amendments to earlier drafts and fails to engage\nwith important critiques that arose between 2016 and 2019.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Surrogacy:<\/strong> Surrogacy\nmeans a practice whereby one woman bears and gives birth to a child for an\nintending couple with the intention of handing over such child to the intending\ncouple after the birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Altruistic\nSurrogacy: <\/strong>It means the surrogacy in which no charges,\nexpenses, fees, remuneration or monetary incentive of whatever nature, except\nthe medical expenses incurred on surrogate mother and the insurance coverage\nfor the surrogate mother, is given to the surrogate mother or her dependents or\nher representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Commercial\nSurrogacy:<\/strong>\nIt means commercialisation of surrogacy services or procedures or its component\nservices or component procedures including selling or buying of human embryo\nand trading in services of surrogate motherhood by way of giving payment,\nreward, benefit, fees, remuneration or monetary incentive in cash or kind, to\nthe surrogate mother except the medical expenses incurred on the surrogate\nmother and the insurance coverage for the surrogate mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nhighlights of Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The Bill\nprohibits commercial surrogacy, but allows altruistic surrogacy.&nbsp;<\/li><li>Surrogacy\nis permitted when it is for intending Indian couples who suffer from proven\ninfertility and married for at least\nfive years.<\/li><li>The couple must be between 23 to 50 years old (wife) and 26 to 55\nyears old (husband)<\/li><li>The couple should not have any surviving child (biological,\nadopted or surrogate). It would not include a child who is mentally or\nphysically challenged or suffers from life threatening disorder or fatal\nillness.<\/li><li>The\nsurrogate mother has to be a close relative of the intending couple.<\/li><li>The\nsurrogate mother must be a aged between 25 to 35 years and married woman having\na child of her own.<\/li><li>A woman can\nbe a surrogate mother for once only in her life time.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Objective\nof Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019: <\/strong>To\ncombat,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>the exploitation of\nwomen <\/li><li>rackets of\nintermediaries that import human embryos and gametes <\/li><li>rise in the abandonment\nof children in the emerging surrogacy-hub of the world that is India.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Issues\nwith the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The legislation (intentionally) reeks of inequality and moral conservatism, with its exclusion of the LGBTQ community, single, divorced or widowed intending parents and an emphasis on \u201cfamilial altruism\u201d. <\/li><li>The assumption that non-commercial surrogacy will eradicate the exploitative nature of the practice, is hasty. In fact, involving family, might lead to a greater number of complications such as: <ul><li>differing degrees of social stigma against both the surrogate mother and intended parents<\/li><li>allegations and character assassinations of the fidelity of the surrogate mother<\/li><li>familial pressure on younger married women in the family (even more so for daughters-in-law) who might be coerced to carry the child against their will<\/li><li>difficulty in parenting due to animosity within the family as the surrogate mother, being a \u2018close relative\u2019 remains present as an important person in the family, leading to unwanted intervention in decisions regarding the child\u2019s future<\/li><li>breach of confidentiality and privacy<\/li><li>unregulated payment in money or kind <\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Such a ban also overlooks the bodily autonomy and right to livelihood that women are constitutionally guaranteed in India.<\/li><li>Blanket bans lead to system failures. Criminalising practices does not lead to the eradication of the activity. Instead, it moves such practices underground into unregulated, and far more dangerous, terrain.<\/li><li>It is wholly unfair to expect a woman whether a close relative or not, to graciously provide nine months (and recovery time), to carry a responsibility as heavy as a child, without compensation and recognition for the toll on her physical and mental health. The altruistic surrogacy form, remains exploitative, albeit differently, for women who are close relatives with zero payment, making it far worse.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Way\nForward:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The 228th Law Commission India Report on\nCommercial Surrogacy too strongly recommended prohibiting commercial surrogacy.\nHowever, it said that \u201cprohibition on vague moral grounds without a proper\nassessment of social ends and purposes which surrogacy can serve would be\nirrational.\u201d <\/li><li>The introduction of a\nSurrogacy Bill is important, considering the lacuna in the law and exploitative\nreality but the framework of the bill in present form does not solve the issue.\nTo criminalise payment beyond medical expenses and insurance cover (even to\nclose relatives) and ban clinics offering surrogacy services is unfair and\nshort-sighted. <\/li><li>A form of \u2018compensatory\nsurrogacy\u2019 should be introduced, with a focus on the child-bearer. A similar system\nwas&nbsp;recommended&nbsp;by the\nStanding Parliamentary Committee. <\/li><li>In addition to the medical expenses and\ninsurance cover that is now mandated, the law should allow intended parents to\nprovide payment to the surrogate mother, in recognition of the physical, mental\nand emotional toll<strong>,<\/strong>&nbsp;rearing\na child entails.<\/li><li>It could also include reimbursement of\nthe surrogate mother\u2019s opportunity cost i.e, the income she would have\nreceived, had she not been carrying their child for nine months and expenses in\nfinding another job, thereafter.<\/li><li>Compensatory surrogacy\nsystem needs further in-depth consideration before its introduction. It must\nbetter protect the exploited stakeholder, who is the intended beneficiary of\nthis Bill, without robbing them of their bodily autonomy and right to livelihood.\nThis system, therefore, offers the possibility of a regulated, non-exploitative\nalternative to unfettered commercial surrogacy and impractical altruistic\nsurrogacy.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/respecting-reproductive-choice\/article28739407.ece\">https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/op-ed\/respecting-reproductive-choice\/article28739407.ece<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context: The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019. More in News: The&nbsp;Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019&nbsp;was re-introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 15, 2019, having lapsed in December 2018 with the dissolution of Parliament. The introduction of the 2019 Bill, contains minimal amendments to earlier drafts and fails to engage with important critiques that arose between 2016&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/7-pm-respecting-reproductive-choice-29th-july-2019\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">7 PM | Respecting Reproductive Choice | 29th July, 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":49370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[130,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-7-pm","category-public","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/7-PM.png?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704766087},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}