Article Details
  • Published Online:
    April  2025
  • Product Name:
    The IUP Journal of Law Review
  • Product Type:
    Article
  • Product Code:
    IJLR030425
  • DOI:
    10.71329/IUPLR/2025.15.2.27-33
  • Author Name:
    Shruti Kandoi and Rajesh Kumar Verma
  • Availability:
    YES
  • Subject/Domain:
    Law
  • Download Format:
    PDF
  • Pages:
    27-33
Volume 15, Issue 2, April 2025
Frozen Gametes and Posthumous Parenthood: Redefining the Right to Reproduce
Abstract

Infertility has become a serious concern in present times. Due to advancements in medical field, technology like Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) helps infertile couples have a child. Further, under ART, gametes are fertilized outside the human body and then transferred into a woman’s body for carrying and delivering the child. After many unsuccessful attempts, the Indian Parliament enacted the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 (ART Act) to regulate the infertility clinics providing IVF, ICSI, GIFT, IUI, etc. treatments using the ART technology. Simultaneously, the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act of 2021 was passed to regulate the infertility clinics providing surrogacy services. ART Act allows individuals and couples to freeze and store their sperm/oocytes/ gametes for future use. These stored reproductive cells can be utilized for surrogacy or ART. Additionally, it also provides an alternative way to use the cryopreserved sperm/oocytes/gametes, such as donation, destruction, or handing over to a specific person. The paper highlights the ethical and legal challenges to the use of frozen sperm/oocytes/gametes by a guardian or authorized person after the death of the person. To avoid legal complications arising from the issues, the Parliament should take necessary steps through amendments and may issue directions to the medical association to spread awareness in this regard.

Introduction

With the advent of changing lifestyles, infertility has become a growing concern for both men and women. The other contributing factors are age, genetics, and environmental factors, which have resulted in the deterioration of fertility in humans across the globe.1 Thus, it became essential to develop a technology that can deal with the challenges of infertility