The surrogacy rules 2022 has been amended to allow married couples to use an egg or sperm of a donor in case one of the partners is suffering from a medical condition.
As per Centre's amendment, medical board of the district where the donor belongs to has to certify that either the husband or wife is suffering from a medical condition, necessitating the use of gamete. Gametes, reproductive cells, of females are called ova or egg cells and male gametes are called sperm.
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In case when the District Medical Board certifies that either husband or wife constituting the intending couple suffers from a medical condition necessitating use of donor gamete, then surrogacy using donor gamete is allowed, the notification issued on Wednesday said.
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The surrogacy using donor gamete is allowed subject to the condition that the child to be born through surrogacy must have at least one gamete from the intending couple, it stated.
This means if both partners have medical problems or are unable to have their own gametes, they cannot opt for surrogacy.
The notification stated that single women [widow or divorcee] undergoing surrogacy must use self-eggs and donor sperm to avail surrogacy procedures.
The amendment comes a year after the Supreme Court received petitions from women across the country after it allowed a woman with a rare congenital disorder to avail surrogacy with a donor egg.
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The central government had issued a notification in March 2023, banning donor gametes for couples intending to undergo surrogacy.
