I. Surrogacy Law in India

For a long time, surrogacy was unregulated in India. This had both good and bad consequences. Good because, many couples, straight or queer, who could not have children biologically, could engage the services of a surrogate. Indeed, this made India one of the most favoured surrogacy destinations in the world. Equally, the lack of regulation meant that the surrogate was exposed to exploitation—physical, mental, and financial. To remedy this situation, the Indian State had been grappling with setting up a regulatory regime. After several failed or stalled attempts to do so, the Surrogacy Regulation Act was finally passed in 2021 and has been operational since July 2022. This was followed by the Surrogacy Regulation Rules which provided the particulars on how a couple could go about surrogacy. Can Indian queer persons opt for surrogacy?