When released in 1932, Aldous Huxley’s disconcerting utopia had terrified many of an imminent takeover by biotechnological advances. The grotesque manner in which he had encapsulated human desire to achieve perfection became synonymous with a fear of science about to go wild. The rapid expansion of reproductive technologies during the last century, especially after the birth in 1978 of England’s Louise Brown, the world’s first ‘test-tube baby’, have, however, demonstrated that these advancements are not as scary as they seemed back then. Even more significant is the enthusiastic reception to these assisted reproductive technologies given in the Muslim countries where hundreds, if not thousands, of fertility clinics have been established across the region. In the light of the increasing fluorescence of this industry as well as oft-repeated approvals of some of its practices by Islamic bodies, both here at home and abroad, the Federal Shariat Court recently validated the legitimacy of babies born through the in vitro fertilisation process given both the sperms and eggs used belong to the actual parents, and the child is borne by the actual mother. Previously, Egypt’s famed Al-Azhar University and the Council of Islamic Ideology Pakistan had also approved test tube babies as long as they did not involve any third-party donation, in 1980 and 2013 respectively. The court has similarly declared surrogacy as “unlawful and against the injunctions of Quran and Sunnah”, and further called for amendments to Section 2 of the Contract Act 1872 and Pakistan Penal Code regarding punishments of the couple that arranges a surrogate along with the surrogate and the doctor involved.
Despite reaffirming the societal and religious taboo on surrogacy, the verdict should be applauded as a much-needed initiative.
