Renuka for strict law on surrogacy

NEW DELHI: Terming India as a"cheap-deal hub" for surrogacy, minister of state for women and childdevelopment Renuka Chowdhury has underlined the importance of a stronglegislation to tackle the issue. Among the areas that need to be addressed isregulation of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) clinics, rights of thesurrogate mother, the child and prospective parents."We do not wantsurrogacy to become unfettered like organ trade. India has become a cheap dealhub which is very worrying. We need to put a regulatory authority in place,"Chowdhury said after a consultation with experts on the issue.Thereare reports of childless couples both in India and abroad who have been usingfacilities of ART clinics to rent-a-womb over the years. Though there are nostudies, experts are of the opinion that the trend is increasing with little orno regulation in this sector.A draft legislation on surrogacy��� prepared by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) ��� hasrecommended strict penalties for offenders and a tight regulation on ARTclinics.The draft law restricts the number of embryo transfers amother can go through to three times for the same couple, if the first twoattempts fail. It also adds that no woman should act as a surrogate for morethan three live births in her life.The draft warns that a surrogatemother should not act as an oocyte donor and clinics assisting in this would bebreaking the law. The child's status and legal rights are equal to that of abiological child born to a couple.