Recently, the Delhi High Court seeks sought a response from the Central government on a petition questioning the legality of laws that enforce a blanket ban on the adoption of frozen embryos.
A division bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia directed the Central government to file its response within six weeks.
An embryo represents the earliest stage of human development, formed when an egg is fertilised by a sperm. In the process of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), embryos are created in a laboratory and, after a few days of development, may either be transferred to a woman’s uterus to establish pregnancy or cryopreserved for future use.
The public interest litigation has been filed by noted IVF specialist Dr Aniruddha Narayan Malpani, who contends that the statutory ban on adopting frozen embryos infringes the fundamental rights of infertile couples under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.
Dr Malpani has challenged Sections 25(2), 27(5), 28(2) and 29 of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, along with Rule 13(1)(a) of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Rules. He argues that these provisions prohibit even altruistic, voluntary and consent-based donation of surplus frozen embryos by a commissioning couple to another infertile couple, even in cases where both partners suffer from infertility.
According to the plea, the impugned provisions create unequal and discriminatory treatment between similarly placed infertile couples by allowing access to double-donor IVF—where both the egg and sperm are sourced from donors—while denying the option of embryo adoption. The petition asserts that embryo adoption and double-donor IVF are functionally and ethically equivalent, making the differential treatment arbitrary and unconstitutional.
“Such arbitrariness strikes at the heart of Article 14. Further, such absolute prohibition creates an arbitrary and constitutionally untenable distinction between embryos created for IVF using double donor gametes and pre-existing embryos donated altruistically under identical ethical, medical, and regulatory safeguards,” the plea states.
“Furthermore, such a prohibition raises fundamental constitutional questions regarding the reproductive rights of millions of infertile couples in India, who are denied access to healthy, altruistic embryo adoption, a medically established, scientifically validated, globally recognised, and ethically sound reproductive option.
The right to make reproductive choices, including the decision to have a child, is an integral facet of the right to life, dignity, autonomy, and privacy guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution,” the plea states.
The next date of hearing is on 27th April.
Website designed, developed and maintained by webexy