3 min readNew DelhiFeb 23, 2024 07:41 AM IST
First published on: Feb 23, 2024 at 02:38 AM IST
The Centre has modified the surrogacy rules again, allowing the egg or the sperm of a donor in case a medical condition of the “intending couple” necessitates it, according to a Gazette notification published on Wednesday.
The notification states: “In case when the District Medical Board certifies that either husband or wife constituting the intending couple suffers from medical condition necessitating use of donor gamete, then surrogacy using donor gamete is allowed.”
This comes after the Supreme Court last year allowed a woman with Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser (MRKH) Syndrome — a rare congenital disorder that affects the reproductive system and can cause infertility — to undergo surrogacy with a donor egg.
The rule necessitating that both the egg and the sperm come from the “intending couple” was introduced in 2023. Prior to that, the rules allowed for donation of eggs but not the sperm.
Health experts welcomed the move as many women undergoing surrogacy may be older — the number and quality of egg declines with age. “While very few people need surrogacy — it is only meant for those who do not have a uterus, have a damaged uterus, or have a thin uterine lining — among those who do, the women are likely to be older, having tried other methods of getting pregnant before considering surrogacy. This is the reason some of them would need a donor egg; this is a very positive decision,” said Dr Anjali Malpani, an IVF specialist from Mumbai.
“Sperm donations are hardly needed these days, with techniques where the sperm can directly be taken from the testicles and injected directly into the egg,” she said.
ExplainedThe 'single' conundrum continues
The changes in surrogacy rules are not applicable to single women. The modified rules state: “Single woman (widow or divorcee) undergoing surrogacy must use self eggs and donor sperms to avail surrogacy procedure.” This comes even as questions are being raised in Indian courts over exclusion of single women from using surrogacy to have children.
The rule change, however, is not applicable for widowed or divorced women. It reads: “Single woman (widow or divorcee) undergoing surrogacy must use self eggs and donor sperms to avail surrogacy procedure.”
A 44-year-old unmarried woman wanting to undergo surrogacy challenged not only the provisions of the Surrogacy Regulation Act that do not allow the procedure for single women, but also the fact that “single women” as per the Act also need to use their own eggs.
The woman’s counsel argued that her client could not get married earlier in her life and now wants to have a child through surrogacy but because of her age, it is medically not advisable to use her own gametes.
Dr Malpani said: “There are many single women who want to have children and it should be allowed.”
The rule necessitating that both the egg and the sperm come from the “intending couple” was introduced in 2023. Prior to that, the rules allowed for donation of eggs but not the sperm. 
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