SC Seeks Centre’s Response on a Plea against a Provision of Surrogacy Law

The petitioners, who challenged the constitutional validity of section 4(iii)(c)(ii) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, contended that married couples have a right to exercise their reproductive choice of availing surrogacy to conceive a second child.

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from the central government on a plea challenging a surrogacy law provision, which bars married couples, who have a healthy first child, from having a second child through surrogacy. The plea has described the impugned provision as 'discriminatory.'

The apex court bench comprising justices BV Nagarathna and Augustine George Masih has issued notice to the Union of India on a plea filed by a couple challenging the constitutional validity of section 4(iii)(c)(ii) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021.

The surrogacy law excludes couples facing secondary infertility (inability to conceive or have a child after previously giving birth) from availing the benefits of surrogacy.

The petitioners contended that married couples have a right to exercise their reproductive choice of availing surrogacy to conceive a second child. The plea argued that the state should stop unnecessary interference in the private lives of citizens.

The petitioners have described the impugned provision as “irrational, discriminatory and without any sound determining principles”.

The plea argued that it was in gross violation of the reproductive rights of a woman guaranteed under the Article 21 of the Constitution (right to life and personal liberty).

A batch of pleas challenging the ban on commercial surrogacy is already pending before the apex court.

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