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New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha member DP Vats said that setting the maximum age of parents in medical procedures to remove infertility and the provision of testing embryos for genetic disorders is “partial eugenics” and they are used to treat diseased children. Can help prevent birth. Parliament Wednesday.
Vats further said that Khaps in Haryana also practiced eugenics which, according to him, helps in producing healthy athletes for the country. Khaps, or Khap Panchayats, are clan-based kangaroo courts that are popular in Haryana. wats is out of date Supporter from them.
He spoke in the Upper House during a debate on the ART (Regulation) Bill 2021, and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2020, even as other Rajya Sabha MPs called “tokophobia” concerns over the lack of clarity on the bills. flagged off. (fear of pregnancy) and “discrimination” towards the LGBTQ community.
Both the bills were passed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
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Khap and Eugenics
The ART Bill essentially seeks to regulate fertility clinics and require them to be registered under the National Registry of Banks and Clinics of India. Assisted reproductive technology broadly refers to medical procedures used to overcome infertility, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection, cryopreservation of gametes or embryos, and the use of other fertility drugs.
Eugenics, meanwhile, is a term used for The practice and advocacy of improving the human species by selecting people with specific desirable hereditary traits with the aim of alleviating human suffering from diseases, disabilities, and so-called undesirable characteristics. This is a controversial topic around the world.
Vats, a former army doctor from Haryana, said: “Family raising is an important aspect of life in India. India is facing a lot of burden in terms of infertility… Infertility lowers morale. We have such pairs in the armed forces too… In ART, there are provisions under which (a) the fetus has to be tested for congenital and genetic disorders.”
“Setting the maximum age of parents to be 45 and 55 (years) also amounts to partial eugenics because there are reports that women as young as 70 (years) can also conceive and deliver. Now, looking at eugenics This is needed because we don’t need to produce symptomatic children,” said Vats, who has served as the chief of the Haryana Public Service Commission.
Vats further added, “Eugenics has been practiced by Khap Panchayats in Haryana too, which prohibits marriages in close ties.” “That is why Haryana has produced the most healthy people and athletes, and our share of (Olympic, Commonwealth (Sports) and Asian (Sports) medals (highest)… the doctor is capable of any genetic testing and prevention There will be disease.”
surrogacy bill passed
While the ART Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha last week, the Surrogacy Bill was passed in the lower house in August 2019 but was eventually referred to a select committee, which recommended that a bill related to regulation of assisted reproductive technology be brought first . ,
only under surrogacy bill Infertile Indian married couples between the ages of 23-50 for women, and men 26-55 may be considered for surrogacy.
“The bills in their current form do not accommodate concerns such as tokophobia, which is related to the fear of childbirth. It is more of a psychological condition that ultimately leads to the inability to conceive a child… I appeal to include such mental conditions in the purview of the bill,” said Amar Patnaik, Rajya Sabha member of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Orissa.
“The bills are also narrow in their definition of couples – and broadly cater to heterosexual married individuals. What happens to unmarried people? The bills are silent on LGBTQ couples,” Patnaik told countries like Australia, Nepal, Israel and Vietnam. Said to cite examples that have helped reproductive technology services be more inclusive.
Assam MP Ajit Bhuyan also expressed concern about the lack of inclusivity when it comes to LGBTQ+ people.
Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy, the YSR Congress Party’s Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh, called the bills a “piece of moral and ethical legislation”, and said: “The need is to recognize surrogacy as a right, not just a requirement.” In.”
AIADMK Rajya Sabha member Thambi Durai said the bills will help people from economically weaker sections and encourage research in the assisted reproductive sector, while flagging concerns in grievance redressal.
Telugu Desam Party Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar urged the government to remove clauses in bills that, he said, require couples to wait for five years before going for assisted reproductive technology services.
(Edited by Arun Prashant)
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