New Delhi, Aug 24 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today justified the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill prohibiting single parents, homosexual couples and couples in a live-in relationship . Addressing a press conference after the Union Cabinet gave its approval for introduction of Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 in the next session of Parliament, Ms Swaraj said the Bill prohibits single parents , couples in a live-in relationship and homosexual couples from going in for surrogacy as they already have an option for going in for adoption. Lamenting the rampant misuse of surrogacy in the country, the External Affairs Minister said, 'The Bill has been necessitated as India has over the years emerged as a surrogacy hub for couples. 'Jo cheez zaroorat ke naam pe shuru ki gayi thi woh ab shauk ban gayi hai' (what was started for convenience has become a luxury today). Big celebrities who not only have one but two children, a son and a daughter, even then they went ahead with surrogacy.' The minister said the Bill prohibits commercial surrogacy and allows ‘altruistic surrogacy’ to needy infertile couples. 'It also prohibits single parents, homosexual couples, live-in relationships couples to opt for altruistic surrogacy. If you have a biological child, or an adopted child then altruistic surrogacy won't be allowed,' Ms Swaraj said. Replying to a question on disallowing surrogacy for homosexual couples, Mrs Swaraj said, 'You can say it is looking forward and we can say this doesn’t go with our ethos.' Ms Swaraj addressed the press conference as the chairman of the Group of Ministers (GoM) , constituted at the behest of the Prime Minister’s Office, to draft the Bill . The GoM had recently cleared the bill and had referred it to the Union Cabinet for a final call. Apart from Health Minister J P Nadda, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal were among those part of the GoM. The government had recently admitted that in the absence of a statutory mechanism to control commissioning of surrogacy at present, there have been cases of pregnancies by way of surrogacy, including in rural and tribal areas, leading to possible exploitation of women by unscrupulous elements. UNI AR RSA RJ 1837