The surrogacy bill prohibits commercial surrogacy in India and only allows altruistic surrogacy which has been defined in the bill as surrogacy in which no money or remuneration except medical expenses are provided for the surrogate mother by the couple.
Back in 2016, this column had described the draft Surrogacy Bill as a ‘nanny state’ law. The version approved by the Union Cabinet earlier this year was much like the old one.
The Rajya Sabha passed the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020 and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 on Wednesday. Both the bills seek to curb unethical practices related to issues like sex selection and exploitation of surrogates.
Disobeying the Chair and disturbing the House are "undemocratic", Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday as Opposition continued its protest inside the House on the suspension of 12 MPs, leading to a brief adjournment and boycott of the proceedings by the protesting lawmakers, who held a day-long dharna.