Dr. Anoop Gupta helps pre-op transsexual store sperm, same-sex couples have babies through surrogacy

Dr. Anoop Gupta, medical director, Delhi IVF Fertility Research Centre, has pioneered in-vitro fertilization in the country, giving birth to the first test-tube baby in 1994.

In February 2011, he was served a notice by the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights after he helped a Spanish gay couple have twin babies through surrogacy. The concerns cited by DCPCR were seemingly around inter-country adoption, but it must be noted that its chairperson Amod Kanth is one of those staunchly opposing the reading down of Section 377, and has claimed that gay people cannot look after children.

On Dec 5, 2011, Dr. Gupta was again in the news for helping a pre-operative male-to-female transexual store sperm prior to surgery, in order to enable future options of having a child through surrogacy.

In his interview with Asian Age Dr. Gupta propounded his own theories of transsexuality “This boy was born in his family after five girls. Being brought up in the company of his sisters, he somehow developed some girl-like characteristic. He started wearing his sisters’ clothes and lived a life like them. He is educated and well-placed in life today and now he is undergoing a sex change surgery to completely convert to a female”. He also expressed concern over in-vitro fertilization being “now a threat to the concept of marriage”.

We at Orinam appreciate the doctor’s services to the LGBT community, but note there is no scientific basis for his theory of transsexuality resulting from being around many female siblings. We refer interested readers to Professor Lynn Conway’s review of theories, and the recent explanations from neurobiology.