The central government on Wednesday amended the Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022 to allow married couples to use donor eggs or sperm for surrogacy in case one of the partners is certified as suffering from a medical condition.

The notification that was issued on Wednesday said that in the case when the district medical board certifies that either the husband or wife constituting the intending couple suffers from a medical condition necessitating the use of donor gametes, then surrogacy using donor gamete is allowed. The notification also stated that surrogacy using a donor gamete is allowed subject to the condition that the child to be born through surrogacy must have at least one gamete from the intending couple.

This implied that if both partners have medical conditions or are incapable of having their own gametes then they cannot opt for surrogacy. According to the notification, single women (widow or divorcee) going through surrogacy must use self-eggs and donor sperm to avail of surrogacy.

The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has modified the earlier surrogacy rules that declared couples who are undergoing surrogacy procedures must have both gametes (egg and sperm) from the intending couple. The latest amendment in surrogacy rules came after the Supreme Court received petitions from women across the country after it allowed a woman with a rare conventional disorder to avail of surrogacy with a donor egg.

The Central government on March 14, 2023, amended Form 2 (Consent of the Surrogate Mother and Agreement for Surrogacy) of the surrogacy rules read with Rule 7, which specifies banning donor gametes for couples planning to undergo surrogacy.

The Supreme Court in December last year challenged the connotation of earlier rules and said the very purpose of surrogacy would get defeated by such rules. The court authorized more than two dozen petitioners to use the donor eggs to become mothers through the surrogacy procedure. 

(Input from various sources)

(Rehash/Lavanya Beeraboina/MSM)