Surrogate Mother: A Legal Aspect

Surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman carries a pregnancy and gives birth to a baby for another woman. Surrogate motherhood is one of many currently available forms of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) that have developed in response to the increasing number of individuals/couples who find themselves unable to conceive a child on their own. The main aim of this study is to give an overview of legal aspect of surrogate mother. Surrogacy is gaining popularity as this may be the only method for a couple to have their own child and also because adoption process may be long. India is leading in this business because of the easy availability of surrogates at comparatively less cost. Many agencies have come forward with the intention of outsourcing pregnancy to foreign countries. In India this process had been regulated by the law from 2002. Though the regulation have been initiated, they are not so stringent when compare to other countries hence many foreigners are coming to India for surrogate mother. It may be concluded that Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill 2010 has provided for single parenthood by allowing “unmarried couples” and “single persons” from India and abroad to have children using ART procedure and surrogate mothers in India.