Cabinet clears Surrogacy Regulation Bill
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill after incorporating recommendations of a Rajya Sabha Select Committee. The Bill seeking to regulate the practice and process of surrogacy was introduced and passed in Lok Sabha in August last year. The Rajya Sabha, however, referred it to a Select Committee.
"Surrogacy Regulation Bill incorporating recommendations of RS Select Committee has been approved by the Cabinet," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said at a press conference.
A parliamentary panel had recommended that not only close relatives but any woman who is "willing" should be allowed to act as a surrogate.
The 15 major changes suggested by the 23-member select committee of Rajya Sabha to the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019, also included deleting the definition of "infertility" as the inability to conceive after five years of unprotected intercourse on the ground that it was too long a period for a couple to wait for a child.
In order to protect the interests of the child born through surrogacy, the Committee also recommended that the order regarding the parentage and custody of the child, issued by a Magistrate, shall be the birth affidavit for the surrogate child.
(With PTI inputs)
ALSO READ | Govt refers surrogacy bill to select committee of Rajya Sabha
ALSO READ | Surrogacy Regulation Bill, 2019: All you need to know
