The Supreme Court has protected the right of parenthood of a woman, suffering from a rare medical condition, by staying the action of a law.
Due to the complicated health condition, the petitioner women cannot produce her own eggs/oocytes.
She suffers from a rare medical condition known as Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser (MRKH) syndrome.
However, a government notification on March 14 this year amended the law, banning the use of donor gametes.
It said “intending couples” must use their own gametes for surrogacy.
The petition was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the amendment as a violation of a woman’s right to parenthood.
The 2023 amendment contradicted the Sections 2(r) and 4 of the Surrogacy Act, 2021.
These sections recognised the situation when a medical condition would require a couple to opt for gestational surrogacy in order to become parents.
The SC interpreted the law to mean that the child would be considered genetically related to the husband when Rule 14(a) applied, allowing the gestational surrogacy process to proceed.