Infertility clinics to be regulated
Mar 27
[Health News] New Delhi, Mar 27 : Children born through use of donor egg or sperms will not have right to know the identity of their genetic parents and a child born to a single woman through artifical insemination would be considered legitimate, according to guidelines being mulled by Union Health Ministry to check mushrooming growth of infertility clinics. “Children born through the use of donor gametes (egg or sperm) and their adopted parents shall have a right to available medical or genetic information about the genetic parents that may be relevant to the child’s health,” these guidelines say. However, such children “shall not have any right whatsoever to know the identity of their genetic parents,” these add. The UK had recently enacted a new law that gives children born from donated sperm, eggs and embryos the right to trace their biological parents. The guidelines, prepared by Indian Council of Medical Research, also say “there is no legal bar on an unmarried woman going for AID (artificial insemination with donor semen). A child born to a single woman through AID would be deemed to be legitimate.” However, AID should normally be performed only on a married woman with the written consent of her husband as a two-parent family would be always better for the child than a single parent one and the child’s interest must outweigh all other interests, say the guidelines. The guidelines are now being deliberated by the Health Ministry which could turn them into a Parliamentary bill. PTI
source: newkerala.com