Many members in the Lok Sabha have raised their voices for the exclusion of single parents and the LGTBQ community from using the procedure of IVF. However, do you know that the Lok Sabha passed The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020, on Wednesday, wherein, they proposed the establishment of a national registry and registration authority for all the clinics and medical professionals to serve in the same field.

When the bill was moving for passage, the Health Minister, i.e., Mansukh Mandaviya has said various suggestions from the side of the standing committee that has been considered by the government to improve the legislation. In the said Bill, the government wants to regulate and supervise the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics and related banks to prevent misuse, adopt safety and ethical practice, etc.

Parliament Proceedings Held On 1^st December 2021

Mr. Mansukh Mandaviya has told the house that many such ART clinics have been running without regulations and there is a need for regulation of such clinics because there are many implications on the health of those who undertake the procedure. To start the debate, a congress member Karti Chidambaram has said that this law is Victorian because there are no lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people, i.e., LGBTQ or any single man for exercising the right included. He also wants to support poor childless parents to take ART’s help and had also urged the government for the same.

Dr. Heena Gavit of the BJP supports the bill and said that this bill sets minimum standards and codes of conduct for fertility clinics and about 80% of these clinics are not registered. However, there is also a provision in the bill that those who are involved in the trafficking and sale of embryos will be fined Rs. 10 lakh for the first time, and if the same person gets involved again, then the person can be imprisoned for up to 12 years.

After listening to her, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP, Dr. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidaar, one of the best specialists in this field, stated that there should be an involvement of experts at every level to monitor Bill’s provisions and all the pointed out banks should not be there unless it has a proper laboratory.

Then, two people, Dr. Dastidar and BSP’s Sangeeta Azad raised their issue for exclusion of single parents and the LGTBQ community from using this procedure. They said that these people also have a right to be parents. And after that, NCP’s Supriya Sule also talk about the same by welcoming the bill. She stated that we should not deprive any human being who wants to become a parent and there should not be any jail terms for doctors who are supporting and helping them.

After that, a technical point was issued by RSP’s N.K. Premchandran. He claimed that the Surrogacy bill has not been passed as it is still pending in the upper house. How can this house pass a law that is totally dependent on another law? After listening to this statement, the Health Minister stated that he will take both the bills in the upper house together.