Tuesday 19 March 2013

This is such a relief



New Delhi, March 19 -- Gay and single foreigners will be able to take their born-in-India babies home.
The home ministry has decided to let babies - commissioned by gay and single foreigners after a July 2012 ban - to leave the country when they are born this year. Only heterosexual married couples are eligible for a medical visa to travel to India to commission surrogacy under the new visa rule.
But realizing the urgency of the situation after a gay Australian couple came out with their story about hiring surrogate mother in India for their child, the home ministry has decided to revisit the issue.
"This is a special case.... Else we will be left with hundreds of parentless, stateless children. We can't open an orphanage for them," a senior home ministry official told HT.
The official said exit clearances would be given on a case-to-case basis after making sure that foreigners or clinics weren't abusing the relaxation.
Home ministry officials, however, insist they had already held extensive discussions for a year before imposing the bar.
They got working on the new rule after a couple of instances where countries such as Germany and Japan refused to give citizenship to infants born to surrogate mothers in India.
Commercial surrogacy is governed under a set of guidelines issued by the Indian Council for Medical Research but the guideline isn't enforced.
The government doesn't even have a clue about the number of Assisted Reproductive Technology Clinics that handle surrogacy cases.

Such a weight has been lifted from our shoulders after reading this. This is such a releif to us. We have worried and worried about this issue for the past couple months. Although it is just a news statement it is at least a promising step in the right direction.
Thanks for following our journey

xxxxxx Chris and Tim

Thursday 14 March 2013

Hello March

Hello March. Apparently summer finished for us a while back yet we have just had a record breaking 9 days of over 30. It is really funny to think that us Melbournians piss and moan about Melbournes constantly changing weather, yet when we get consistent sun shine we continue to piss and moan it's too hot. Hahahahahahahaha.

Well as it stands we should be about the 20-21 weeks into the pregnancy. Still very much a surreal feeling but still very exciting. We have made a tentative booking for our accomodation for when we return to Delhi. We are really looking forward to enjoying a great break of a month or so and meeting new and old friends.

As they say "no news is good news" and we are lacking in news to share. I imagine we are going to have to start planning for our holiday in Delhi amongst other things.

Well just a short update for now. More to follow very soon

Xxxx C and T