NEW DELHI: Provisions are being made in the draft Surrogacy Bill, 2016 to make parentage of children born out of surrogacy "legal and transparent," the government said today, noting that there may be some cases of exploitation of woman by unscrupulous elements for money.
"Yes to make issues of parentage of children, born out of surrogacy legal and transparent, provisions have been made in the draft Surrogacy (Regulations) Bill 2016," Minister of State for Health Shripad Yesso Naik said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
He said that in the absence of a statutory mechanism to regulate commissioning of surrogacy in the country at present, there may be some cases of exploitation in the name of commercial surrogacy of women in the vulnerable section of the society by unscrupulous elements for monetary benefit.
"In order to prevent this, the government has prohibited foreigners from commissioning surrogacy in the country and has drafted a comprehensive legislation, namely the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 for safeguarding the interest of surrogate mothers and the children born out of surrogacy," Naik said.