Birth and Rights: On the Laws on Reproductive Rights

A bill which the government of the country intends to make a law cannot be struck out at the very beginning; And at least, with the passage of time, it is inevitable that he loses his prejudices. It cannot exclude certain categories of citizens from the benefits and rights that the law seeks to provide to the people of the country. And, the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020, was passed in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, done, by Except for two categories — LGBTQIA+ and single men, Undoubtedly, the time has come for such a Bill; It would fill a void, calling for government intervention to regulate the field of fertility treatment, and setting up a national registry and registration authority for all clinics and medical professionals in the segment. The bill has provisions to protect the rights of donors, commissioning couples and children born from ARTs to grant and withdraw licenses for clinics and banks based on performance factors. It proposes to make it impossible for criminals to operate within the system and profit from it while exploiting patients. It also plans to end the illegal trafficking of embryos, and the poor who are abused by their circumstances to donate eggs or sperm.

It is unfathomable that a bill, so progressive by its very nature, would explicitly exclude members of the LGBTQIA+ community and single men. As citizens, these groups also have the right to exercise reproductive rights. This omission is particularly shocking as the law has made provisions for single women in addition to a heterosexual couple. The Union Health Minister said that several recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee were considered. Unfortunately, despite expert recommendations to include both the categories, the committee cited the best interest of the child born through ART to allow live-in couples and same-sex couples to avail the facility of ART. It would not be appropriate to give’. It is also recorded that ‘given’ [the] Indian family structure and social environment and norms, it will not be very easy to accept a child whose parents are together but not legally married. While the law would be good to be aware of people’s sentiments, it also aims to move regressive social norms out of their freeze-frames towards wider acceptance of differences and preferences. Legislators have also pointed out that the Surrogacy Bill is intrinsically linked to the ART Bill, and it would only be appropriate that both the Bills be considered together before being passed. The ball is now in the upper house’s court; Legislators can still correct omissions and introduce a sense of justice in the letter of the law.