Sunidhi-
Published on: August 31, 2021, at 17:22 IST
A couple filed a plea in Bombay High Court seeking to import their frozen embryos in US. They got married in 2010 and continued living in US until 2019, where they preserved 5 embryos.
According to the plea, the couple attempted In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) in Thane in 2014 however it was a failure. It wasn’t simply one instance.
The pair has evidence of a string of failed attempts, including one in which the woman became pregnant but had a miscarriage.
The woman had partial paralysis and was in a coma for a week in 2017, but she recovered, and was put on medication for the rest of her life to control epileptic seizures. The physicians have now advised her not to become pregnant.
The couple is now asking for access to the embryos that are stored in the United States.
In 2018, the couple requested permission from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to import frozen embryos from the United States.
They learned in 2019 that the ICMR is now only granting NOCs for the export of embryos. The guidelines for the import of embryos have been finalised and forwarded to the DDGFT(Deputy Director General of Foreign Trade) for approval.
The petitioners have also pointed to the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill 2019 and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill 2020 still pending in Parliament which restricts surrogacy’s commercialization and strives to protect both the surrogate mother and the kid born.
However, theirs is not an instance of commercialization of surrogacy, as the couple is forced to employ surrogacy for medical reasons, as Pradhan claimed.
The couple has asked the court to direct the ICMR to give a NOC. Alternatively, the ICMR and several other government groups that are investigating the problem should decide on their representation.
The division bench of Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice Madhav J Jamdar issued notice to the Union government and kept the plea for further hearing on September 14.
Also Read: What is the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020?