Khushi Bajpai
Published on: August 29, 2022 at 19:21
Arun Muthuvel, a renowned IVF specialist from Chennai, has filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging various provisions of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, the ART (Regulation) Rules, 2022, the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022.
Both the ART Act and the Surrogacy Legislation, according to the petition, fall short of adequately achieving the crucial purpose of regulating surrogacy and other assisted reproductive procedures and impose a “Restive regime which dangerously impinges upon the most basic reproductive right of individuals.”
Thus, the petition asks the court to:
- Recognize the rights of women over the age of 35 who are not married to access surrogacy;
- To invalidate the Surrogacy Act of 2021’s Section 2(1)(h) and the ART Act of 2021’s Section 2(1)(e) definitions of a couple and a commissioning couple, respectively, if they contain couples other than a married man and woman;
- Give respondents instructions outlining a deadline for the direct medical board’s issuing of the essential certificate and outlining a procedure for appeal or review;
- To declare Section 4(iii)(b)(III) to be in violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution;
- To declare the provisions of the ART act imposing severe penalties for medical professionals as unconstitutional;
- To declare Section 27(6), which requires a donor bank to obtain the Aadhar card of each donor, unconstitutional; and
- To lessen the onerous registration procedures for ART clinics, including the astronomical registration fees.
Attorneys Ameyavikrama Thanvi and Mohini Priya have filed the petition.