New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Wednesday hit out at those misusing altruistic surrogacy, saying what had started in the name of necessity has become a "fashion".
Addressing a press conference after the Union Cabinet approved the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016, the minister said she feels "sad" to say that what had started in the name of "necessity" has today become a "fashion".
She said the Bill comes at a time when India has emerged as a hub of commercial surrogacy for couples seeking children.
Referring to "big celebrities", though without naming them, Swaraj said they have opted for surrogacy and it has become a trend. She said under the bill, the procedure has been allowed for necessity and not "shauk" (fondness or fashion).
"We have several examples of big celebrities who have their own children, two children -- a boy and a girl -- still they have gone for a surrogate child," she said.
Shah Rukh Khan, Amir Khan and Tusshar Kapoor are some of the celebrities to have surrogate children. Kapoor is a single parent.
"Permission (under the bill) is for necessity, not shauk...there is no permission for cases in which the wife does not want to go through labour...you make a poor woman go through labour pain instead," she said.
The minister made it clear that single parents, live in partners and homosexual couples were not permitted to have surrogate children under the proposed law. She said live-in relations and homosexual relations have no legal sanctity.
She said such people, including single parents, can go for adoption.
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