Supreme Court to review age limit in surrogacy laws, orders Centre to file reply

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court decided that it will hear on February 11 the age limit for surrogate mothers (who give birth to a child for others) and others in surrogacy laws. Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma heard about 15 petitions challenging certain sections of the Surrogacy Regulation Act and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021. The apex court asked the central government to file a written reply on the matter.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre said the Central government would file a written reply and follow the directions of the Supreme Court. The court said an interim order needs to be passed in this matter.

The surrogacy law 2021 established the age limit for the intended parents and the surrogate mother. It stipulates that the intended mother should be between 23 and 50 years of age, while the intended father should be between 26 and 55 years of age. The surrogate mother has to be married, between 25 and 35 years of age, having first her own biological child, and doing surrogacy only once in her life. The law also prescribes other conditions in regulating surrogacy.

The Supreme Court said that there is a need to protect the interests of surrogate mothers. The court said that despite the ban on commercial surrogacy in India, a strong system is needed to prevent the exploitation of surrogate mothers. The court said, there should be a database for this so that no woman is exploited repeatedly. There should be a system. No one is saying that this is a bad idea. But it can also be misused.

The court said that there could be alternative ways to compensate surrogate mothers and the process of payment could be regulated by a special authorised officer. ASG Bhati said that the existing laws only allow intimate surrogacy. This is because of the ban on commercial surrogacy.