Center amends surrogacy rules for couples with medical conditions

Surrogacy using donor gametes is permitted subject to conditions.

New Delhi:

The Center has amended the Surrogacy Rules 2022, allowing married couples to use a donor’s egg or sperm if one partner is suffering from a medical condition.

The District Medical Board must certify that one of the spouses is suffering from a medical condition that requires the use of donor gametes.

The notification issued on Wednesday said, “If the District Medical Board certifies that either spouse of the intending couple is suffering from a medical condition that requires the use of donor gametes, then by using the donor gametes Surrogacy is allowed.”

It states that surrogacy using donor gametes is permitted subject to the condition that the child born through surrogacy must have at least one gamete from the intended couple.

This means that if both partners have medical problems or are unable to have their own gametes then they cannot opt ​​for surrogacy.

“Single women (widowed or divorced) undergoing surrogacy will have to use self-egg and donor sperm to avail surrogacy procedures,” the notification said.

The amendment came after the Supreme Court last year received petitions from women across the country to allow a woman with a rare congenital disorder to avail surrogacy with donor eggs.

The Center had issued a notification in March 2023 banning donor gametes for couples seeking surrogacy.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)