The couple filed a petition in Bombay High Court seeking permission to complete the surrogacy
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought a reply by P D Hinduja Hospital in a plea seeking directions to allow the petitioners to complete a surrogacy procedure, which commenced before the publication of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Act and Surrogacy Act.
A couple from Mumbai, on Tuesday, proceeded to the Bombay High Court seeking permission to complete a surrogacy procedure they had initiated in the city-based hospital before the new Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Act came into effect.
The plea was submitted before a vacation bench led by Justice N W Sambre seeking an urgent hearing, and it will be heard on Wednesday. The petitioner’s counsel, PV Dinesh, also wanted that as interim relief, the couple is permitted to transfer their cryopreserved embryos from the mentioned hospital to another fertility clinic.
The couple who happened to be lawyers stated in their plea that the woman had lost two children and, due to a medical issue, was unable to have a child of her own and thus required ART.
Then as mentioned in the plea, the woman had reached out to Hinduja hospital for a surrogacy procedure in October 2021. After the fertilization procedure was completed, the resulting embryos were cryopreserved in the care of Hinduja hospital till December 2021.
Meanwhile, the ART Act and Surrogacy Act were approved by the President in December 2021 and will go into effect in January 2022.
However, the hospital has informed them that due to the Surrogacy Act, they could not transfer the embryos to the surrogate carrier and could not treat the surrogate carrier. The couple alleged that the hospital waited two weeks before responding that they could not transfer the embryos due to conflicting legal views.
The couple did not give up and take legal action and approached Mumbai High Court in seeking urgent permission to complete a surrogacy procedure. The court will do a hearing on Wednesday, May 19, over the petition.
