The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill 2020: Know New Changes in Future Fertility Treatments

Recently passed bill known as The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill-2020 ensures prevention of misuse, safe and ethical practice of assisted reproductive technology services in our country

This bill was passed in the initial week of the winter-2021, which has made some amendments in assisted reproductive technology and here’s what you need to know,

As per the ART-2020, “Assisted Reproductive Technology” with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means all techniques that attempt to obtain a pregnancy by handling the sperm or the oocyte outside the human body and transferring the gamete or the embryo into the reproductive system of a woman”

Assisted Reproductive Technology takes into account nearly all services – gamete donation, intrauterine insemination (IUI), IVF etc., and gestational surrogacy.

What the bill proposes?

– The ART bill put forward the constitution of national board that will set minimum standards of physical infrastructure, laboratory, diagnostic equipment and expert manpower to be employed by the clinics and banks
– Added strict punishments for practicing gender selection, trading of human embryos or gametes, rackets or agencies for such practices in defying laws
– Duties of assisted reproductive technology clinics using human gametes and embryos
– Rights of child born through assisted reproductive technology
– Offenses and penalties

Who can avail assisted reproductive technology services?

The clinics shall apply the assisted reproductive technology services, —

– to a woman above the legal age of marriage and below the age of fifty years;
– to a man above the legal age of marriage and below the age of fifty-five years

conditions:

– Clinic will perform the treatment after getting written consent form the commissioning couple (infertile couple)
– The Clinics will issue a discharge certificate stating details of the assisted reproductive technology procedure performed on the commissioning couple or woman
– An insurance coverage of such amount and for such period as may be prescribed in favor of the oocyte (egg) donor by the commissioning couple
– A clinic is prohibited from proposing to provide a child of pre-determined gender
– Professional counselling to a commissioning couple about all the chances of success of ART procedures and also share the advantages, disadvantages and cost of the procedures, medical side-effects and risks, including that of multiple pregnancy with them
– It also requires checking for pre-existing, heritable, genetic diseases before the embryo implantation

Conditions for Sperm or oocyte donor:

– Only registered ART bank can screen the gamete donor-oocyte donor and collect & store the semen
– Only male between 21 and 55 years of age can donate semen to bank
– Female between 23 and 35 can donate oocytes (eggs) to the bank
– Oocyte donor must be married
– Woman must have child of her own of 3 years
– She can donate only once in her life and not more than seven oocytes shall be retrieved from her
– A bank cannot supply gamete of a single donor to more than one commissioning couple

Storage and handling of gametes, gonadal tissues and human embryos:

– The gamete of a donor or embryo shall be stored for maximum 10 years and at the end of such period such embryo or gamete shall be allowed to perish or be donated to a research organization with the consent of the commissioning couple or individual
– The sale, transfer or use of gametes, zygotes and embryos, or any part of information related to this, directly or indirectly to any party within or outside India shall be prohibited except in the case of transfer of own gametes and embryos for personal use with the permission of the National Board
– Prohibition on use of any human gametes and embryos or their transfer to any country outside India for research

Rights of child born through Assisted Reproductive Technology:

– A child born through ART shall be deemed to be a biological child of the commissioning couple
– He shall be entitled to have all the rights and privileges available to a natural child of the commissioning couple
– The donor will not have any parental rights over the child which is born from his or her gamete

Offenses and Penalties:

– Abandoning or exploiting a child born through ART
– Run an agency, organization, or racket for trading human embryos or gametes
– Import or help in getting imported in whatsoever manner, the human embryos or human gametes
– Exploit the commissioning couple, woman or the gamete donor in any form
– Transfer human embryo into a male person or an animal
– Sell any human embryo or gamete for the purpose of research
– Use any intermediates to obtain gamete donors or purchase gamete donors

These offenses will be punishable with the fine for the first-time violation– 5lakhs to 10 lakhs, subsequent violation will be punishable with the imprisonment for 8 to 12 years and fine between 10lakhs to 20 lakhs.
Those clinic or bank advertising or offering sex-selective ART shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term five years to ten years or with fine ten lakh rupees to twenty-five lakh rupees or with both.