Surrogacy - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

1)   Following the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, health ministry is planning to frame regulations for which services?

a. Sperm Banks
b. IVF
c. Embryo transfers
d. All of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Following the Surrogacy Regulation Bill, the health ministry plans to frame regulations for in vitro fertilisation, embryo transfers and sperm banks.

  • Estimates show that assisted reproductive technology of which IVF and surrogacy services are most common is a INR 3000 crore industry
  • While regulating clinics, ART Bill is expected to set forth norms for procedures, sperm donations and embryo transfers as well
  • ART or Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill is also expected to draw a clear framework for compensation and bringing out guidelines on pricing of such procedures.
  • The bill will be brought to public domain very soon
  • Draft bill is quite old and requires some changes. Things need to be brought under its purview and work is on to accomplish this
  • While regulations for surrogacy were also part of the overarching ART Bill, surrogacy was hived off and a separate legislation was framed for it
  • Union Cabinet approved the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2016 imposing a ban on commercial surrogacy while allowing altruistic surrogacy where only close relatives can be surrogate mothers for Indian couples
  • Infertility in India is on the rise on account of erratic modern lifestyles and late marriages
  • Increasing number of couples are opting for ART
  • There are serious concerns over the success rate of ART
  • No official estimates or data on ARTs, sources in the government as well as industry say success rate of ART in India is not more than 20-30 percent.