The Supreme Court on Tuesday (November 4, 2025) decided to examine whether a law banning married couples facing secondary infertility from using surrogacy to have a second child amounts to a state restriction on the reproductive choices of citizens.
The Union government has supported the constitutionality of the legal provision, Section 4(iii)(C)(II) of the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, arguing that availing surrogacy cannot be claimed as a fundamental right. It has contended that surrogacy involves the use of the womb of another woman, the surrogate mother, and should be availed only after all other options to attain parenthood have failed, including natural birth and assisted reproductive technologies (ART).
Supreme Court says retrospective age limits under surrogacy law violate reproductive autonomy
“The Constitution does not recognise a right over another individual’s body. Thus, the right to avail surrogacy cannot be claimed as a fundamental right and exists purely as a statutory right subject to conditions/restrictions prescribed in the 2021 Act,” the government submitted in the top court.
‘Emotionally challenging’
