Surrogacy bill got president's assent and became an Surrogacy Act 2021.
I have one questions regarding this:
If my close relative whose age is 36 years, wanted to become Surrogacy of us, will law permit her (as her age crossed 35year)? Or it will be mutual understanding between us as she is our close relative, here age is not a factor?
According to Section 2 of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act of 2021, "altruistic surrogacy" is defined as Surrogacy, a practice in which one woman bears and gives birth to a child for an intending couple to hand the child over to the intending couple (a legally married Indian man and woman over the ages of 21 and 18) after birth, in which no charges, expenses, fees, remuneration, or monetary incentive of any kind are given to the surrogate mother or her dependents/ representative. Only the surrogate mother's medical expenses and other prescribed expenses will be reimbursed, and the couple shall provide insurance coverage for the surrogate mother.
No surrogacy procedures shall be carried out unless the person in charge of the surrogacy procedure and the person qualified for performing Surrogacy are satisfied. This can be accomplished only when it is recorded in writing that the surrogate mother possesses an eligibility certificate issued by the appropriate authority. The eligibility certificate is given on culmination of certain conditions, one of which is- no woman, other than an ever-married woman, who has borne a child of her own and is between the ages of 25 to 35 years on the day of the procedure.
So, according to section 4 (b) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act of 2021, a woman whose age is beyond 35 cannot become a surrogate mother.
Thus, to answer your question specifically- No, legally speaking, your close relative, whose age is 36 years, cannot become a Surrogacy mother for you and your spouse.
I hope this helps.
Thank You!
