Calcutta High Court: Husband’s Age Alone Cannot Bar Eligible Woman from IVF Treatment

The Calcutta High Court has ruled that a woman who meets the prescribed age and health criteria cannot be denied in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment solely because her husband’s age exceeds the limit set under the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act.
Justice Krishna Rao, in an order dated June 24, observed, “In the process of IVF, the husband’s role is merely that of a facilitator. It is the woman who carries the embryo and gives birth to the child.”
The case concerned a couple who had been trying to conceive since 2014. They sought IVF treatment using donor sperm and donor eggs from an ART bank. However, the hospital refused to proceed because the husband was 57 years old, exceeding the maximum age limit of 55 years prescribed for men under the ART Act. The wife, aged 49, was within the legal age limit for women.
The state government argued that the couple was not eligible for joint IVF treatment. Rejecting this interpretation, the High Court held that the ART Act does not prohibit an otherwise eligible married woman from undergoing IVF merely because her husband has crossed the prescribed age limit.
The court emphasised that the objective of the ART Act is to regulate assisted reproductive technology and prevent its misuse—not to deny eligible women their reproductive rights or the opportunity to become mothers.
Accordingly, the High Court directed the hospital to provide IVF treatment to the couple in accordance with the law.
In its order, the court noted that since the woman is medically fit to conceive and falls within the prescribed age limit, her reproductive rights cannot be curtailed solely because of her husband’s advanced age.