The Supreme Court of India has ruled that couples who created and froze embryos before the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 took effect on January 25, 2022, have the right to proceed with surrogacy despite later age restrictions. A Bench of Justices B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan held that Section 4(iii)(c)(I) of the Act does not apply retrospectively. Justice Viswanathan’s concurring opinion stated that fertilisation and freezing mark the point where reproductive rights crystallise, protected under Article 21. The Court allowed eligible couples to continue their surrogacy process, distinguishing pre-Act actions from future regulations.
