by n kavitha rameshwarwhen celebrities announce the birth of their newborn through surrogate mothers the indian audience engages in a debate mired in conservatism and ignorance of the law tending to rob the intending parents of their autonomy choice dignity and privacy the surrogacy regulation act 2021 seems premised on similar social conditioning to begin with the act bans commercial surrogacy instead of regulating it since the beginning of the millennium surrogacy has been a pot of gold industrythe blanket ban may relegate it to an underground unlicensed business with disastrous consequencesthe act recognises only altruistic surrogacy meaning no remuneration paid to the surrogate apart from expenses that might be prescribed or incurred due to insurance coverage or medical expenditure also surrogacy is now open only to indian nationals to address citizenship issues that often crop up when the surrogacy is commissioned by an overseas couple while this is the only welcome measure the act is marked by conditions that are exclusionary in letter and arbitrary in spiritfirst the act discriminates against several groups unmarried women not covered in the definition of intending woman taking in its fold only widows and divorcees nonbinary and same sex couples unmarried and single men thereby limiting beneficiaries under the act only to heterosexual married couples in baby manji yamada 2008 the supreme court sc had accepted the idea of commercial surrogacy and approved the proposition that an intending parent could be anyone irrespective of marital status and sexual orientationthis has been ignored herethe sc has in deepika singh 2022 acknowledged the changing idea of the family by stating that familial relationships may take the form of domestic unmarried partnerships or queer relationships such atypical manifestations of the family unit are equally deserving of protection under law and benefits under social welfare legislation while dealing with the rights of unmarried women to abortion up to 24 weeks the sc held that the distinction between unmarried and married women is discriminatory next the act bans commercial surrogacy which means surrogacy cannot be a paid service only altruistic surrogacy through a genetically related woman is permitted severely curtailing choices available to a couple or womanaltruistic surrogacy within the family is flawed as a concept loaded with patriarchal control over the reproductive choices of a woman and going against the core of the right to privacy and the right to reproduction both of which are cherished fundamental rights the sc in its constitution bench judgment in k s puttaswamy 2017 emphasised the constitutional right of women to make reproductive choicesthe apparent objective of the act in banning commercial surrogacy has been to prevent the exploitation of women much remains to be argued on the subject as healthy surrogate mothers willing to carry the baby to term are usually from a poor financial background and in need of income they choose this as against being forced into it with informed consent on the otherhand the emotional exploitation of the altruistic surrogate within the family can cause