Surrogate Law
Need for Surrogate Law
Commercial surrogacy in recent times has turned a biological function of a woman‘s body into a money earning machine. Earlier the unclear legal terrain and the high cost of gestational surrogacy in advanced countries has led many couples to look to India due to easy availability of surrogate at marginal cost.
The majority of women who become gestational surrogates in India are poor, uneducated, and often have families of their own to support. Thus, Indian women who are both economically and socially disadvantaged are frequently and successfully targeted to become gestational surrogates for wealthier world.
Further more,the presence of world class medical care facilities and cheap surrogate mothers have placed India at the forefront as the outsourcing destination for surrogacy.
Indian Surrogacy Market
The India surrogacy market size reached USD 745.2 Million in 2025. Which is expected to reach USD 4,222.7 Million by 2034, exhibiting a growth rate of 20.62% during 2026-2034.
The India surrogacy market growth is driven by a changing legal framework and increasing demand for assisted reproductive technologies.Apart from this, the growing prevalence of infertility, lifestyle disorders, and delayed pregnancies among urban couples is further driving the market. Additionally, advancements in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer techniques are improving success rates. Despite regulatory restrictions, India remains a hub for surrogacy-related medical tourism, with domestic and international patients seeking fertility treatments under legally permissible conditions.
This practice of surrogacy has been subject of great criticism raising issues like “exploitation of poor women” “neo-colonialism” and “slavery of women” etc.
India, with an alarmingly high maternal death rate, surrogacy might lead to exploitation of poor women by rich couples. Not only them, the fact that their husbands too do not prevent their wives from doing it only because of money also reflects exploitation.
The Surrogate ACT
Surrogacy laws in India have been formulated to control the growing practice of surrogacy, which was prevalent to a lesser extent.Before its regulation, India emerged as a centre for business surrogacy, which led to a host of issues regarding the exploitation of women, the absence of proper medical regulations, and issues related to child rights.
To resolve these issues, the government in India came up with a separate law to guarantee the ethical and transparent practice and use of surrogacy for genuine medical conditions.
The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 was introduced by Dr. Harsh Vardhan in Lok Sabha on July 15, 2019. This Bill discusses about various aspects of surrogacy involving Regulation of surrogacy, Eligibility criteria for intending couple, Eligibility criteria for surrogate mother, are framed. While the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, permits only altruistic surrogacy, many intended parents seek solutions within regulated clinics. In 2024, the Central government of India then amended the Surrogacy (Regulation) Rules, 2022, allowing couples to use at least one gamete from the intending couple for surrogacy.