By Dr. Nalini Gupta, KICDelfinium
There are cases in medicine and law that stop you in your tracks — not because they are dramatic or controversial, but because they are so deeply, unmistakably human. Two recent High Court rulings in India are exactly that. They do not merely interpret legislation. They remind us why legislation exists in the first place — to protect human beings, not to permanently foreclose their most fundamental hopes.
At KICDelfinium, I want every patient to know about these cases. Because knowledge is the first step toward possibility.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court One Woman, One Year, One World of Difference
The Punjab and Haryana High Court One Woman, One Year, One World of Difference
Imagine going through IVF, conceiving twins, losing one during pregnancy, and holding your surviving daughter with a heart full of both joy and grief. Imagine deciding, after all of that, that you want to try again to give your daughter a sibling, to complete your family, to heal through hope.
Now imagine being told that one birthday your 51st has legally closed that door.
This is exactly what happened to a couple who approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The wife, now 51, had undergone IVF in 2023 and delivered a healthy girl after losing one twin during the pregnancy. When the couple returned to a fertility centre seeking a second child, they were informed that under the ART Act 2021, the maximum age for women undergoing IVF is 50 years. They were no longer eligible.
They refused to accept this without a fight. Their counsel approached the High Court and made a case grounded in medical reality the woman was healthy, had no major medical condition, and was fully informed of the risks. The couple offered to furnish an undertaking before the competent authority, accepting complete personal responsibility for any injury or complication arising from the treatment.
Justice Jagmohan Bansal accepted their plea. On May 19, the Court ordered that upon submission of the undertaking, the fertility centre would be free to proceed with the treatment.
One year past the legal limit. Medically fit. Emotionally ready. Fully responsible. The Court said proceed.
The Chhattisgarh High Court When the Law Recognized the Weight of Loss
The second case is one that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the unimaginable.
A couple lost their only child in 2022. The grief was total. They could not immediately seek fertility treatment they were simply surviving. When they finally approached a clinic to try again, they were turned away. This time it was the husband who had crossed the prescribed age limit of 55 years for men under the ART Act.
Justice Amitendra Kishore of the Chhattisgarh High Court looked at this case not just through the lens of legislation but through the lens of justice. The wife was within the permissible age limit. Both partners were medically fit. Their delay was not negligence it was grief, which is bona fide and human and real.
The court’s ruling was extraordinary in its clarity and compassion: denying this couple IVF would amount to a permanent deprivation of their right to experience parenthood. The court directed the IVF clinic to permit and proceed with the treatment.
Crucially, the court also addressed the spirit of the law itself. The ART Act, it noted, is a beneficial and regulatory legislation it exists to facilitate access to ethical reproductive technologies, not to create unreasonable barriers. Age limits are prescribed, yes but the law does not expressly prohibit judicial consideration in exceptional cases, and it does not create a blanket embargo that overrides constitutional rights.
What Both Rulings Tell Us
Reading these two judgments together, a clear and powerful message emerges:
- Medical fitness is a stronger determinant than age alone
- Informed consent and personal responsibility are legitimate legal foundations
- Exceptional circumstances grief, loss, tragedy warrant exceptional consideration
- The right to parenthood is a constitutional right, not a privilege granted only to the young
- The ART Act was designed to open doors ethically, not to permanently close them
Our Approach at KICDelfinium<
At KICDelfinium, these rulings reflect our deepest clinical and human values. We have always believed that a fertility consultation must begin with listening to the patient’s story, her health, her loss, her hope before it ever looks at her age.
For patients navigating age-related restrictions, we offer:
- Thorough individual health and fertility assessment
- Advanced donor egg IVF protocols for women above 50
- Complete legal support guidance on undertakings, documentation, and judicial options where applicable
- Grief-informed fertility counselling for couples who have experienced child loss
- High-risk pregnancy management in collaboration with experienced obstetricians
- A team that sees you as a person first, and a patient second
A Final Word<
These court rulings did not happen because the law was broken. They happened because two couples refused to let a number define the limit of their love.
At KICDelfinium, we stand ready to support every such couple with science, with compassion, and with the absolute conviction that the right to dream of parenthood belongs to everyone.