As Karan Johar announced the birth of his twins through surrogacy, medical fraternity and LGBTQ community highlight how Surrogacy Bill could put this option out of reach for singles
karan Johar
Bollywood director and producer Karan Johar's children Yash and Roohi were born to a surrogate mother at the Masrani Hospital in Andheri West. Pics/ Datta kumbhar, Rane Ashish
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As filmmaker Karan Johar shared the happy news of the birth of his twins - named Yash and Roohi in honour of his parents - it has once again put the spotlight on the controversial Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016, which threatens to put the surrogacy option out of reach for singles who want to become parents.
According to the medical fraternity and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community, such a ban would be a step backward and would make single parenthood a taboo.
Celebrity cases
Surrogacy has only recently become a popular option for aspiring parents, after several celebrities opted for it. Dr Jatin Shah, a well-known IVF expert who supervised the birth of Karan's kids, said, "As many celebrities are opting for surrogacy, it is encouraging common people too to come forward and opt for this method of parenthood. Until now, single parenthood was considered taboo."
Also read: Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar is now a single dad, fathers twins via surrogacy
Yash and Roohi were born on February 7 at Masrani Hospital, Andheri. Shah Rukh Khan's youngest child AbRam was also born through surrogacy at the same hospital in June 2013.
Last June, actor Tusshar Kapoor also became father to a boy, Laksshya Kapoor, born through surrogacy using IVF. Like Karan, Tusshar too is a single parent.
The successful examples of these celebrities becoming parents through IVF and surrogacy has given a huge boost to the procedure, which was earlier considered taboo.
Fear of a ban
Dr Firuza Parikh, the IVF expert at Jaslok hospital who helped Tusshar Kapoor in his surrogacy, told mid-day, "Earlier in 2012, we used to get hardly any inquiries for surrogacy from singles but now, we get 8-9 inquires per month. Science and technology has advanced a lot which is now slowly merging with the society and people's mindset."
Read Story: Birth of a controversy: Debate on surrogacy engages nation
In fact, fearing that surrogacy might be out of their reach in the future, singles are opting for it now.
"It can be one of the main reasons why singles are coming forward for surrogacy – the fear that if the bill gets passed, it will be a hurdle for them. The government should think kindly before making such decisions, as it is the biological need of people to become a parent. Society is also catching up with the technology," said Dr Parikh.
"It will be more problematic for poor people who can't go abroad, where surrogacy is legal," she added.
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