Commercial surrogacy legal and industry in India: SC

NEW DELHI: Japanese surrogate baby Manji may have thrown up a huge debate between purists and the needy about the ethicality of surrogacy, but the Supreme Court not only validated “commercial surrogacy” but also termed it a virtual industry in India. In its judgment in the Manji case on Monday, the apex court allowed the child’s biological grandmother to approach the Centre for travel documents to take the baby to Japan, but at the same time put its stamp of approval on ‘commercial surrogacy’. A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and Mukundakam Sharma said in ‘commercial surrogacy’ a gestational carrier was paid to carry the child to maturity in her womb and was usually resorted to by well off infertile couples who could afford the cost involved or people who save and borrow in order to complete their dream of being parents. “This medical procedure is legal in several countries including India where due to excellent medical infrastructure, high international demand and ready availability of poor surrogates, it is reaching industry proportions,” said Justice Pasayat, writing the judgment for the bench. And this is precisely the apprehension expressed by NGO ‘Satya’, which through advocate Abhinav Sharma, argued that the absence of law has left such an important social and emotional field open to abuse by middlemen, who are increasingly being approached by rich foreign couples to arrange for poor surrogates.

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