Centre Amends Surrogacy Rules, Allows Donor Gametes in Specific Cases

The Center has modified its surrogacy guidelines to permit couples to utilize donor sperm or eggs in the event that one spouse has a health issue.

According to the revised regulations, a district medical board must attest that the male or the woman has a medical condition that makes using a donor's gametes necessary.

A notice from the Union Health Ministry published in the gazette on February 21, 2023, essentially revokes a notice dated March 14, 2023, which stated that intended surrogate parents "must have both gametes from the intending couple and donor gametes (are) not allowed."

A woman who agrees to carry a couple's pregnancy on behalf of them is called a surrogate.

The new regulations enable surrogacy using donor gametes if a district medical board "certifies that either the husband or wife constituting the intending couple suffers from a medical condition necessitating the use of donor gamete."

The intended couple's gametes must be present in the surrogate child's embryo at least once for the donor gamete to be accepted. Additionally, according to the regulations, a single woman (widow or divorcee) who chooses to become a surrogate must utilize donor sperm and her own eggs.

The Supreme Court questioned the previous regulations last year while considering petitions from many women, which led to the modification. According to a PTI report on Friday, the supreme court noted in December of last year that "the very purpose of surrogacy would get defeated by such rules" while allowing over two dozen petitioners to utilize donor eggs to become moms via surrogacy.

In January of this year, the Supreme Court questioned the Center why it was delaying making a judgment even though several women had come to the court to voice their complaints with the previous regulations. The Center said this month that the government was reevaluating the surrogacy regulations announced in 2023. Aishwarya Bhati, an additional solicitor general, represented the Center in this regard.

Physicians praised the legislation on Friday, stating that it will encourage more couples to choose surrogacy by removing an unneeded obstacle. "A couple can now choose to use surrogacy if one of them—the husband or the wife—is unable to produce a gamete," explained Jyoti Bunglowala, an Indore gynecologist and chair of the Federation of the Obstetrics and Gynecological Societies of India's ethics and medico-legal committee.

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