The Social ION
Year : 2013, Volume : 2, Issue : 1
First page : ( 1) Last page : ( 10)
Print ISSN : 2319-3581. Online ISSN : 2456-7523.

Assisted reproductive technologies bill 2010: Myth or reality of women empowerment

Sangam Shakuntla

Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Email: shakun.rmlnlu@gmail.com

Online published on 27 June, 2017.

Abstract

This paper critically examines the way in which fertility, infertility and Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) are managed in India and how the State is attempting to legalize commercial surrogacy. Attempts for the same were initiated in 2002 and continues till date with no success. Even though the proponents of the Bill argue that vesting rights on women to make reproductive choices is a step to empowerment but lot of issues remains unsettled. This paper addresses the various issues with legalizing commercial surrogacy and examines the proposed Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill, 2010, and the flaws which are contradictory to various constitutional and contractual provisions. It is based on my critical analysis of ART Bill 2010 and articles in Journals, research papers, news paper, and online material available on internet. As Articles and papers emphasize on the need for women to persist and persevere in pursuing options specially those who do not have children. Infertility is portrayed as immensely stressful, and a range of ARTs are presented as potential solutions, present ART Bill also provides single parenthood by allowing “unmarried couples”. ARTs such as In-Vitro Fertilisation were debatable since their introduction by the feminist. I considered too the contested notions of ART in feminist view and what spaces these offer us today. Initially it was proposed that ARTs might offer the potential for women to be liberated from childbearing but later feminists have seen ARTs as yet another mechanism by which women becomes disempowered subjects of medicalisation. In India it seems that ART Bill is introduced as a problem-solving tool in eyes of the government, surrogacy seen as a replacement for employment guarantee and adequate subsistence.

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Keywords

Surrogacy Motherhood, Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Empowerment, Social Security.

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