Teena Thacker | The Indian Express | New Delhi | 26 September 2008
With the dust of the ethics debate and legal battle over Baby Manji — born on July 25 to a surrogate mother in Gujarat using the sperm of a Japanese man and the egg of an unknown donor— yet to settle, the first move has been made in the direction of setting up a regulatory framework for surrogacy in India.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Friday came out with a draft Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2008, that said the surrogate baby of a separated or divorced couple will remain their “legitimate child” if both parties had consented to assisted reproductive technology (ART) to have the baby. The baby’s birth certificate will have the name(s) of the genetic parents/parent.
The draft Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament’s winter session.