Surrogacy should be well recognized and practiced in a safe manner

Surrogacy in Nepal

Surashma Lamichhane

Surrogacy is the process of third party reproduction in which a woman consents to carry a pregnancy for intended parents that cannot have kids due to medical reasons or for gay couples. There are two types of surrogacies; straight/traditional surrogacy and host/gestational surrogacy.

Traditional Surrogacy is a type of surrogacy where a woman who carries a pregnancy for an individual or a couple is also the genetic mother of the child.
In gestational surrogacy, the child is not biologically related to the surrogate mother.

Surrogacy was legalized in USA in 1980 AD. Surrogacy isn’t properly recognized and practiced in Nepal. But there are some hospitals that practice Surrogacy. For example: Om Hospital, Grandcity Hospital, Venus Hospital etc.

The council of ministers made a policy decision relating to surrogacy on 2071/06/02 to manage the service and state about the standards and the procedures relating to the service. The Council of Ministers gave approval to the order given by the hospital for surrogacy. But after tons of debate The Council of Ministers ended up cancelling the order. The Court stated that if it is to be approved, then it can only be approved with clear law and it’s implementation. The court has also directed the government act as specified by them. The writ was cancelled by the court but the applicant’s point was taken by the court and asked the Council of Ministers to make proper laws. Commercial surrogacy should be banned and Altruistic Surrogacy should be allowed only with proper directions and laws to couples that are incapable of having kids. Pain-cliff also demands for proper research to be conducted by the government of Nepal to analyze if surrogacy is or isn’t necessary in our country.

According to my point of view, Surrogacy should be well recognized and practiced in a safe manner in our country as it is unfair to the gay couples and infertile couple as they can’t bear kids. So I definitely think that the Supreme Court, the government and the Council of Ministers should take a deeper make wiser and fair decisions.