Skip to main navigation menu Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2016)
Space and Culture, India

Reviews

Draft Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016: Rhetoric or Surrogate-centric?

https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v4i2.219

Published 2016-11-16

  • Rituparna Bhattacharyya

Rituparna Bhattacharyya
Independent Researcher, Editor, Space and Culture, India and Training and Development, Alliance for Community Capacity Building in North East India

Abstract

Chaired by honourable Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Damodar Modi, the Union Cabinet on 24 August 2016 introduced and approved the draft bill on Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) in India, known popularly as the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016. The bill aims at regulating the ever-proliferating unregulated surrogacy industry interalia banning commercial surrogacy services for single parents, homosexuals, cohabiting partners in addition to foreigners and overseas citizens of India. The key aim of this commentary is to make a nuanced examination of the draft bill aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the practice of surrogacy and address gaps (if any) that require interventions. 

Keywords

Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Surrogacy, Draft Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016, India

Pdf

References

  1. Agarwal, Smita and Kumar, Nishant (2015). The Juvenile Justice (Care And Protection Of Children) Act, 2015: A Review, Space and Culture, India, 3(3), 5-9, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20896/saci.v3i3.165 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v3i3.165
  2. Armour, Kim, L. (2012). An Overview of Surrogacy around the World: Trends, Questions and Ethical Issues. Retrieved from, http://www.familiesthrusurrogacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Overview-of-Surogacy-Around-The-World.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-486X.2012.01734.x
  3. Barua, Mrinal (2016). Surrogacy Debate. Letters, Economic and Political and Weekly, Li (37), 4-5
  4. Bera, Sayantan and Doval, Nikita (2016, 25 August). India Govt Moves to Ban Commercial Surrogacy. Live Mint. Retrieved from, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/iJaMugwI57XmKANE1juUnO/Cabinet-clears-bill-on-surrogate-motherhood.html
  5. Bhandare, Namita (2015, 2 November). Baby Makers and Big Brother. Live Mint. Retrieved from, http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/V187jXfwmYTcoxHgTpumMK/Baby-makers-and-big-brother.html
  6. Bharadwaj, Aditya (2002). Conception Politics: Medical Egos, Media Spotlights, and the Contest Over Test-tube Firsts in India. In Marcia C. Inhorn and Frank Van Balen (eds.). Infertility Around the Globe: New Thinking on Childlessness, Gender, and Reproductive Technologies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 315-333
  7. Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2016a). Discounted Life: The Price of Global Surrogacy in India, Gender, Place & Culture, 1-2, DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2016.1211585 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2016.1211585
  8. Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2016b). Street Violence Against Women in India: Mapping prevention strategies, Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 10 (3), 311-325, DOI:10.1111/aswp.12099 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/aswp.12099
  9. Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2016c). Living with Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) as Everyday Life, GeoJournal, 1-18, doi: 10.1007/s10708-016-9752-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-016-9752-9
  10. Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2016d, 15 February). Sex of Foetus and Mandatory Registration. The Assam Tribune, page 6
  11. Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2015). Understanding the Spatialities of Sexual Assault Against Indian Women in India. Journal Gender, Place and Culture. 22 (9), 1340-1356, DOI:10.1080/0966369X.2014.969684 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2014.969684
  12. Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2014). Life and Times of Unborn Kamla, New Delhi: Palimpsest Publishers, Journal Space and Culture, India, 2(2), 57-58, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.20896/saci.v2i2.89 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v2i2.89
  13. Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2013). Are We Empowered? Stories of Young Indian Working Women, Saarbrücken, Germany: Lap Lambert Academic Publishing, ISBN: 978-3-659-20580-4
  14. Bhattacharyya, Rituparna (2009). Examining the Changing Status and Role of Middle Class Assamese Women: Lessons from the Lives of University Students, PhD thesis, Newcastle University, UK
  15. Bhattacharjee, Dalia (2016). Commercial Surrogacy in India Bans, ‘Altruism’ and the Women Involved, Economic and Political Weekly, LI (13), 27-29
  16. Corea, Genea (1985). The Mother Machine: Reproductive Technologies from Artificial Insemination To Artificial Wombs, New York: Harper and Row DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/00005721-198609000-00014
  17. Chandra, Smith (2011, 16 February). Surrogacy and India: A Legal Perspective. Retrieved from, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1762401 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1762401
  18. Choudhary, Amit Anand (2015, 24 July). Live-in Relationships Now Acceptable Norm in Society: SC. The Times of India. Retrieved from, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Live-in-relationships-now-acceptable-norm-in-society-SC/articleshow/48195514.cms
  19. Desai, Kishwar (2012, 5 June). India's Surrogate Mothers are Risking Their Lives. They Urgently Need Protection, The Guardian. Retrieved from, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jun/05/india-surrogates-impoverished-die
  20. Dey, Sushmi (2016, 24 August). Cabinet May Take Up Surrogacy Bill Today, The Times of India. Retrieved from, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cabinet-may-take-up-surrogacy-bill-today/articleshow/53835511.cms
  21. Ghosh, Abantika (2016, 2 September). Surrogacy Legislation: Is Woman A Child-Producing Factory Asks Anupriya Patel, The Indian Express. Retrieved from, http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/surrogacy-ban-commercial-foreign-clients-woman-child-producing-machine-3008933/
  22. Harding, Sandra (1991). Whose Science? Whose Knowledge?: Thinking from Women’s Lives. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press
  23. Jha Prabhat, Maya A Kesler, Rajesh Kumar, Faujdar Ram, Usha Ram, Lukasz Aleksandrowicz, Diego G Bassani, Shailaja Chandra and Jayant K Banthia (2011). Trends in Selective Abortions of Girls in India: Analysis of Nationally Representative Birth Histories From 1990 To 2005 And Census Data From 1991 to 2011, The Lancet, 377 (9781), 1921-1928 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60649-1
  24. Kane, Elizabeth (1980, 8 December). Surrogate Mother Elizabeth Kane Delivers Her 'Gift of Love'—Then Kisses Her Baby Goodbye. People, 14 (23). Retrieved from, http://people.com/archive/surrogate-mother-elizabeth-kane-delivers-her-gift-of-love-then-kisses-her-baby-goodbye-vol-14-no-23/
  25. Kumar, Anand, T.C. (1997). Architect of India's First Test Tube Baby: Dr Subhas Mukerji (16 January 1931 to 19 July 1981), Current Science, 72 (7), 526-531
  26. Massy-Beresford, Helen (2014, 23 November). What's Next for the World's 5 million IVF Babies, The Guardian. Retrieved from, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/nov/23/whats-next-for-worlds-5-million-ivf-babies
  27. Majumdar, Anindita (2014a). The Rhetoric of Choice: The Feminist Debates on Reproductive Choice in the Commercial Surrogacy Arrangement in India, Gender, Technology and Development, 18 (2), 275-301, DOI: 10.1177/0971852414529484 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0971852414529484
  28. Majumdar, Anindita (2014b). Nurturing an Alien Pregnancy: Surrogate Mothers, Intended Parents and Disembodied Relationships, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 21(2), 199-224, DOI: 10.1177/0971521514525087 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0971521514525087
  29. Majumdar, Anindita (2014c, 7 October). The Anonymous Womb: The ‘Construction’ of the Surrogate Mother in the Indian Media, Stree Mukti Sangathan
  30. Mahapatra, Dhananjay (2010, 27 May). German Surrogate Twins To Go Home, The Times of India. Retrieved from, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/German-surrogate-twins-to-go-home/articleshow/5978925.cms?referral=PM
  31. Mohanty, Chandra Talpade (2003). Under Western Eyes Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anticapilatist Struggles, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 28(2), 499-535 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/342914
  32. Nair, P.M. and Sankar Sen (2004). A Report on Trafficking in Women and Children in India 2002-2003, NHRC-UNIFEM-ISS Project at 203. Retrieved from: http://nhrc.nic.in/Documents/ReportonTrafficking.pdf
  33. Pande, Amrita (2009). “It May Be Her Eggs But It’s My Blood”: Surrogates and Everyday Forms of Kinship in India, Qual Sociol, 32, 379-397, DOI 10.1007/s11133-009-9138-0 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-009-9138-0
  34. Pande, Amrita (2011). Transnational Commercial Surrogacy in India: Gifts for Global Sisters, Symposium: Cross-Border Reproductive Care Article, Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 23, 618-625 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2011.07.007
  35. Pasayat, Arijit (2008, 29 September). Baby Manji Yamada vs Union Of India & Anr on 29 September, 2008, Supreme Court of India. Retrieved from, https://indiankanoon.org/doc/854968/
  36. Prakash, Nishith and Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya (2014). Girls for Sale?Child Sex Ratio and Girls Trafficking in India, IZA Discussion Papers, No. 8293 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2892256
  37. Rao, R. Sunitha (2015, 13 November). Ban on Surrogacy Will Lead To Exploitation. The Times of India. Retrieved from, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/Ban-on-surrogacy-will-lead-to-exploitation/articleshow/49763078.cms
  38. Roy, Saurav (2015, 25 February). Trafficked Tribal Girls Forced To Conceive, Deliver Babies For Sale, Hindusthan Times. Retrieved from: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/tribal-girls-forced-to-conceive-deliver-babies-for-sale/article1-1320239.aspx
  39. Rudrappa, Sharmila (2015). Discounted Life: The Price of Global Surrogacy in India, New York and London: New York University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479874521.001.0001
  40. Saravanan, Sheela (2010). Transnational Surrogacy and Objectification of Gestational Mothers, Economic and Political Weekly, XLV (16), 26-29
  41. Sarkar, Siddhartha (2014). Rethinking Human Trafficking in India: Nature, Extent and Identification of Survivors, The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 103 (5), 483-495, DOI:10.1080/00358533.2014.966499 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2014.966499
  42. Shetty, Priya (2012). India’s Unregulated Surrogacy Industry, World Report, The Lancet, 380, 1633-1634 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61933-3
  43. Singh, Harmeet Shah (2013, 11 December). India's Supreme Court Declares Homosexual Sex Illegal, CNN. Retrieved from, http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/11/world/asia/india-same-sex-relationship/
  44. Singh, Suman (2016). The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016: A Critical Analysis, Space and Culture, India, 4(2), 22-28, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.20896/saci.v4i2.210 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v4i2.210
  45. Taneja, Richa (2016, 2 September). Pics: Top 10 Voices On The Debate On New Surrogacy Bill. NDTV: Every Life Counts. Retrieved from, http://everylifecounts.ndtv.com/debate-new-surrogacy-bill-top-10-voices-4527
  46. Thapa, Jwala D (2012). Analysing the Status of the Surrogate Mother under The Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Regulation) Bill, 2010, NUJS Working Paper Series, The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences
  47. Varma, K.K. (2013). Life and Times of Unborn Kamla, New Delhi: Palimpsest Publishers

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.