Delhi High Court asks Centre why single, unmarried women can’t go for surrogacy

Guwahati: Why should the marital status of a woman be a deterrent when it comes to availing the benefits of surrogacy under the law?

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked a very valid question to the Centre regarding the exclusion of single and unmarried women from availing the benefits of surrogacy.

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The court was hearing a plea filed by a 44-year-old unmarried woman who wished to have “a genetically related offspring via surrogacy ” but needed donor eggs.

Noting that an “intending woman” under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 means an Indian woman who is a “widow” or “divorcee”, a bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma

questioned the rationale behind associating the marital status of a woman with her eligibility to undergo the procedure.

“Why marital status for intending woman? (Even if) she (a widow or a divorcee) has no matrimonial life, why this discrimination?” the bench, also comprising Justice Sanjeev Narula, asked.

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The lawyer present in the court on behalf of the National Medical Commission (NMC), T Singhdev, said he too would examine the issue.

The petitioner mentioned in the court that she was not able to get married earlier and now she wants to have a child through surrogacy because of her age.

She said that it is medically not advisable to use her own gametes for the procedure and so she needs a donor for the same.

The petitioner’s brother has consented to donate his male gametes so that they remain genetically connected.

“(However) what came as an embargo to the petitioner are the provisions of the Act, 2021, which prohibit the petitioner to have a child by way of surrogacy,” the petition stated, adding that

the reproduction of a female gamete has no connection with a woman’s marital status and the state cannot regulate the reproductive choices of its citizens.   

The matter will be next heard on October 31st and before that the woman has been asked to produce medical proof that that her eggs can’t be used because that might compromise the fetus.