Nepal Supreme Court Stays surrogacy

Nepal is the latest addition to list of nations that is trying to regulate surrogacy. The Supreme Court of Nepal had come out with a decision to stay surrogacy practices until there are clearer guidelines regulating surrogacy from the government.

Nepal had come up as a popular destination along with Thailand for surrogacy after India had restricted surrogacy to married heterosexual couples. Nepal turned out to be a popular alternative for same-sex couples and single parents from many parts of the world. With Thailand out of the picture after the surrogacy ban, Nepal dominated itself with the same-sex couples and single parents seeking surrogacy in the South-Asian region.

The irony about surrogacy in Nepal was that the Nepal did not allow surrogacy for its own citizens, meaning that the surrogate mother could not be from Nepal and the intended parents also cannot be from Nepal. International Intended Parents sought Nepal for their unregulated outlook towards surrogacy and most of the surrogate mothers were usually from India. When a devastating earthquake had hit Nepal in April 2015 killing about 9000 people, the Israeli Government evacuated the newborn children born through surrogacy from Nepal. Most of the surrogates who got stuck in Nepal during the earthquake were mostly Indian Nationals.

There have also been news-reports that few surrogates in Nepal were actually Nepali woman who had represented themselves to be Indian nationals in order to be surrogate mothers. In fact, this is one of the most important contentions before the Supreme Court of Nepal in the plea for banning of surrogacy.

Nepal’s stay on surrogacy brings a clear void for single and same-sex couples wishing to take up surrogacy in the South Asia region. India does not allow surrogacy for the single and same-sex couples. Thailand has also banned commercial surrogacy.