Women move Madras HC over curbs on oocyte donation – Times of India

CHENNAI: A group of women has moved the Madras high court challenging the legality of restrictions on oocytes donation, saying provisions of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (regulation) Act, 2021, breach women’s reproductive autonomy.
As per the Act, a donor shall donate oocytes only once in her life and that too not more than seven. The petitioners said this would restrict the number of egg donors, and would only result in a huge wastage of oocytes and an astronomical increase in costs and waiting time.
Recording their submissions on Friday, the first bench of acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy directed the petitioners to produce scientific evidence to substantiate their claims and adjourned the hearing to the third week of January 2023.
The petitioners said most developing countries permitted a donor to donate oocytes at least for six cycles in her lifetime. They said the restrictions on gamete donations under the impugned law are unreasonable, unscientific and, therefore, should be revised.
According to the petitioners, Sections 21(b) and 27 of the act prescribe establishment of special banks to store and supply sperm and oocytes, and with the procedure and rules for collection of such gametes. However, the prescribed registered gamete banks are yet to be set up across the country stalling several IVF and ART procedures.
Also, Section 27 of the act prescribes age limits for donors and mandates that an oocyte donor shall donate oocytes only once in her lifetime and a set of retrieved oocytes must be used only for a single commissioning couple, they said.
The provision further states that surplus or unused oocytes of a donor must be used only for research purposes and not be given to another couple, they added.
Such restrictions are unscientific, unreasonable, and not in consonance with ICMR guidelines and international best practices, they said.