Actor Nayanthara and her husband filmmaker Vignesh Shivan on October 9 posted pictures of their twin babies on Instagram and other social media platforms. Within hours of the announcement about the newborns’ birth a controversy has erupted — questions are being raised whether surrogacy laws were followed by the couple.
Source- Outlook India
During a presser, the Tamil Nadu Health Minister was asked a question regarding it by a journalist. The minister Ma Subramanian is reported to have said that the Directorate of Medical Services will look into the case. “It is being debated if the surrogacy was done within the purview of the law. We will direct the director of medical services to probe if this was done as per rules,” said the minister as quoted by Hindustan Times.
Four months after they tied the knot the power couple announced on Sunday that they have become parents of twin boys. “Nayan & Me have become Amma & Appa… We are blessed with Twin Baby Boys,” Vignesh wrote on Instagram. Soon reports emerged that the babies were conceived through surrogacy. Now questions are being raised about whether Nayanthara and Vignesh followed the surrogacy procedures laid down by Indian law. The newborns have even got the attention of the Tamil Nadu government.
Surrogacy is a process wherein a woman bears and delivers a child/children for another couple or a person and this process is often supported by legal procedures.
Source- Koimoi
The Union government in December last year notified the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, which came into effect on January 25 this year. The law imposes a total prohibition on commercial surrogacy and allows only altruistic surrogacy, wherein except for medical expenses and the insurance cover of the surrogate, no other charges or expenses are covered by the intended parents.
The first point of contention seems to be that the couple was only married for four months while the new law mandates that a couple are married for at least five years and are medically certified as infertile before opting for surrogacy, said Dr Tuhina Goel, a medical expert on the matter.
“The gray area is that couples can still go for commercial surrogacy and show it as altruistic and that will result in an unscrupulous rise in surrogacy cost and possible exploitation of surrogates and even couples. This needs to be checked. Currently, in many states the surrogacy process is completely stopped.” added Dr Goel.
Doctors also made a similar claim that Nayanthara and her spouse might have conceived the babies before the law was amended.
