Assisted Reproductive Technology - IE - 11/01/23

Context:
The Kerala High Court has said that personal choice to build a family is a fundamental right and fixing an upper age limit for the same was a restriction which needs a relook.
Relevance:
GS2
About:
->Issue:
-The court passed the directive while disposing of a batch of petitions challenging the age limit of 50 years for women and 55 years for men prescribed under the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) (Regulation) Act, 2021, for undergoing the assisted reproductive technology.
-According to the petitioners, prescription of the upper age limit under Section 21 (G) of the ART Act is irrational, arbitrary, unreasonable and violative of their right to reproduction, which is acknowledged as a fundamental right.
-They sought to declare it as unconstitutional.

->Provisions of the ART (Regulation) Act, 2021:
-Legal Provisions:
The ART (Regulation) Act 2021 provides a system for the implementation of the law on surrogacy by setting up of the National Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Board. The Act aims at the regulation and supervision of ART clinics and assisted reproductive technology banks, prevention of misuse, and safe and ethical practice of ART services.
-Definition of ART Services:
The Act defines ART to include all techniques that seek to obtain a pregnancy by handling the sperm or the oocyte (immature egg cell) outside the human body and transferring the gamete or the embryo into the reproductive system of a woman. These include gamete donation (of sperm or egg), in vitro fertilization (IVF), and gestational surrogacy.
-Eligibility Criteria for Donors:
A bank may obtain semen from males between 21 and 55 years of age, and eggs from females between 23 and 35 years of age.

->Shortcomings:
-Exclusion of Unmarried and Heterosexual Couples
-Reduces the Reproductive Choices
-Unregulated Prices

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