A youth from Attingal, who was female by birth and who identifies himself as a transgender man, has approached the Kerala High Court seeking the right to cryo-preserve his gametes (egg cells) for use later.
The 28-year-old assigned female at birth had undergone gender-affirming treatment. Stating that he wanted to preserve his gametes to keep open the possibility of having a biological child in the future. He submitted that he would lose all remaining feminine reproductive features once he underwent a sex-reassignment surgery.
Responding to the plea, the Centre informed the court that the procedure could be accessed only by a ‘commissioning couple’, defined as a man and a woman, or a woman as per the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act. Single men and transgender persons were thus not covered under the Act or its rules.
In an affidavit, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare submitted that a transgender person cannot avail ART treatment. This was because a womb of a mother was needed to implant the embryo for undertaking an IVF procedure. The sole option available with the person was to undergo surrogacy using his eggs, which too was not permitted under the Surrogacy Regulation Act.
