Giving more reproductive and child rights to women, the cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill asserting that children born through assisted technology will be given equal rights as if the children born naturally enjoy.
As per a report by Livemint, the newly tabled Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Regulation Bill 2020 also makes pre-genetic implantation testing mandatory. This would be done to thwart any kind of genetic disorder that can affect the health of the population born through assisted technology.
Also Read: Love On The Wheels: People Share Incidents When They Fell In Love While Travelling
“These allow doctors to test embryos for any possible abnormal chromosomes before they are transferred to the uterus,” quotes Livemint.
Cabinet said that such a bill becomes necessary as India has become one of the largest markets of the fertility industry, with reproductive medical tourism becoming a significant activity.
From ART services like gamete donation, intrauterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization (IVF) to intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and gestational surrogacy, hospitals in India, today provide all.
However, there were no regulations to keep a check on these to ensure the safety standards are maintained.
Also Read: Video: Syrian Dad Teaches Her Daughter To Laugh At Explosions So She Doesn’t Get Scared
“The need to regulate the ART services is mainly to protect affected women and the children from exploitation. The oocyte donor needs to be supported by an insurance cover, protected from multiple embryo implantation and children born through ART should be provided all rights equivalent to a biological children,” a government statement said.
Also Read: People Are Saying That This 40-Year Old Novel Had Predicted Coronavirus Outbreak
The bill comes days after the cabinet also approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill 2020 which extends a woman’s right to abort a child from a period of 20 weeks to 24 weeks.
