Nature has bestowed the beautiful capacity to procreate a life within women, but, unfortunately, not every couple is lucky enough to have such experience. Medical issues or infertility, the main reasons of incapacity, are, now-a-days, being addressed through different technological techniques. However, in quest of having their own genetic baby, couples are being attracted towards the assisted reproductive technique of surrogacy. Surrogacy involves the hiring of a womb of other women for the purpose of reproduction of a child, either artificially or naturally. Where most of the western countries are permitting it, Islam doesn’t allow because it destroys the principle of inheritance, the annihilation of lineage, and consider as adultery, which is strictly prohibited by Qur’an and Sunnah. On these grounds majority of the Muslim countries ban surrogacy, however the mode of proscription varies. In Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court has declared surrogacy as un-Islamic which should be declared illegal and required the legislature to amend the law and prescribe strict punishments for those who are involved in it. However, the absence of legislation in Pakistan possess many practical challenges for the determination of criminal liability and the status of surrogacy contract. What has long been needed is a codified roadmap against surrogacy arrangements that delineates the punishment. This paper attempts to find out the challenges faced by Pakistan in the criminalization of surrogacy codification of law and the overseas response of countries, and thus to concluded on legal recommendations for criminalizing surrogacy in Pakistan.

Keywords: Surrogacy, Islamic bioethics, Third party assisted reproduction, artificial reproductive technology