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Delhi High Court has granted a 60-year-old couple the right to use the frozen sperm of their deceased son for surrogacy.
Highlights of Judgement
- Under Indian law, there is no prohibition against posthumous reproduction, in absence of the spouse, if the consent of the egg or sperm owner is demonstrated.
- Posthumous Reproduction is the process of conceiving a child using Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) after the death of one or both biological parents.
- In such case, a deceased person's cryopreserved gametes are used to conceive a child.
- Posthumous Reproduction is the process of conceiving a child using Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) after the death of one or both biological parents.
- Court concluded that a semen sample or an ovum sample constitutes ‘property’ as it is part of individual’s biological material and can be inherited by legal heirs.
Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)
- ART includes all techniques that attempt to obtain a pregnancy by handling the sperm or the oocyte outside the human body and transferring the gamete or the embryo into the reproductive system of a woman.
- These include In-Vitro Fertilization, Surrogacy, Gamete Cryopreservation, Gamete Intra-Fallopian Transfer (GIFT) etc.
ART Regulation in India
- ART (Regulation) Act, 2021: Regulation and supervision of ART clinics and banks, prevention of misuse, safe and ethical practice of ART services.
- Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021: It prohibits and punishes commercial surrogacy, permitting it only for altruism.
