Surrogacy Regulation Bill is mediaeval, says Congress

Dubbing the Surrogacy Regulation Bill, 2016, as "mediaeval and non-progressive", the Congress on Friday said the Centre should have discussed it with other political parties before approving it.

"The bill seems to be of the Stone Age. It is totally out of tune with the present times," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi told a press conference here.

He said the bill's version presented by the earlier United Progressive Alliance government in 2010 was far better, and cautioned the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government that the proposed law might not get parliamentary approval.

"I doubt this will get parliamentary approval," Singhvi said, adding it was a step in the backward direction.

Calling for a "rethink" on the bill, the Congress leader said: "It seems that surrogate agency like the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) created its draft."

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to the bill, which seeks to prohibit "commercial" surrogacy and denies foreigners, non-resident Indians, single parents, live-in partners and same-sex couples from becoming parents through surrogacy.

--IANS

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