Ethical, legal issues thrown to the winds as poor women play surrogate mothers
Right in the heart of this city, which found a place on the atlas as the Milk Capital of India, is a ‘fertility clinic-cum-hostel’ to house women who rent their wombs, mostly for foreign couples.
The facility, which runs under the name Akanksha Fertility Clinic, caters for 30 surrogate mothers at any given point. Driven by poverty, the women bear and nurse a child of another couple, for a price.
Thanks to the emergence of surrogate motherhood as a multimillion-dollar industry in the country, the clinic is doing a roaring business. What is the success formula? An unending supply of poor and illiterate women and the absence of laws have made the trade the fastest way to make money.
A peep into the clinic-cum-hostel and random interaction with some of the women are an eye-opener. Nazira, wife of a mason near a village in Ahmedabad, chose to become a surrogate to help the family come of out a financial crisis.
Now several months into pregnancy, Nazira will get Rs. 3.25 lakh after the delivery as per a contract signed by her and the commissioning couple. This is in addition to a monthly allowance of a couple of thousand rupees for the gestation period of nine months. If she has twins, the ‘party’ (intending parents) will have to pay her 20 per cent more.
Another surrogate in the hostel, who did not wish to be identified, said she needed money to get her daughter married. She preferred foreign couples because they paid in dollars.
Hansa Pramod, an employee of the clinic, has been delivered of three children for two foreign couples. “First time I moved from rented accommodation to my small house and the second time, to a bigger house,” she told The Hindu.
She admits that when she gave away the children (twins) to an American couple the first time, she felt uneasy but consoled herself in the thought that they were not hers.
Another inmate had four foetuses in her womb, two of which were aborted as the couple did not want so many children. There is no clarity on whether two foetuses were aborted for medical reasons.
“At the moment, there is no law in the country on surrogacy and therefore, it is neither legal nor illegal,” said a senior Health and Family Welfare Ministry official, admitting that ethical, moral, social, monetary and legal issues were raised by various sections of society.
Rent-a-womb is a thriving industry today. With no dearth of ignorant and poor women, and no laws to regulate the mushrooming fertility clinics, it is the fastest way to make money.
Costs less in India
A commissioning couple can get a surrogate for half the price in India compared to the cost in the U.S. or the U.K., where surrogacy is not allowed or permitted only in special cases. European countries do not allow surrogacy at all.
A random scan of the website and some telephone calls to the in vitro fertility (IVF) clinics across several cities makes it clear that surrogacy is rampant and could cost between Rs. 8 lakh and over Rs. 10 lakh, though the surrogate herself gets less than 50 per cent of the money earned by these clinics as the doctors double as agents. There is no mandatory health or life insurance for the surrogate in case of her death. Surrogacy is also advertised as an enterprise in newspaper advertisements and clinics.
There is no supervisory and regulatory body under which all assisted reproductive technology clinics offering their services could be placed, except a set of guidelines, brought out by the Indian Council of Medical Research in 2005, which, however, are not legally binding, ICMR Director-General V.M. Katoch told The Hindu. Based on these guidelines, the ICMR has now come up with a draft Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Regulation) Bill, 2010, which is with the Ministry of Law and Justice for vetting and is expected to be tabled in Parliament in the winter session.
Justifying commercial surrogacy, Dr. Nayna Patel of the Akanksha Fertility Clinic said all surrogates were volunteers and had legally entered into an agreement with the intending parents. “We not only look after them during delivery but also impart them skills which ensure them livelihood for the future,” she said, dismissing charges of moral and ethical issues as the women were uneducated and poor. “We follow the guidelines and have the best technology available,” she said. The clinic celebrated the birth of 500th surrogate child last month and most newspapers front-paged it!
But CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat says ethical and moral issues are certainly involved in commercial surrogacy. “It is the height of irresponsibility and shame that the government does not have any law to regulate these fertility clinics. The government should bring in the proposed law, though it has many weaknesses.”
we are selling everthing like moral values and ethical values by corruption.what is the problem if a woman sell her womb without causing any harm to others and she is giving happiness to the peple who doen't have problem but the woman has to get more benefit not consultancies
Cost of manual services in India is cheaper on many sectors; leave alone surrogacy; so it is not a specific problem;
The payment of 3 or 4 hundred thousand is not small money; forget the gain the intermediaries get; they are rewarded for bringing the business;
I do not think that health will be neglected; somebody paying a million and who is going to enjoy the product, the child; will not neglect to ensure the health of the surrogate mother, because any negligence is going to impact the accomplishment of the objective;
Are these clinics not coming under the purview of medical council of India; a strong regulatory body? What more regulation do we need?
Dirty politics should not be allowed to spoil a source of revenue to these poor people; we are unable to control the world’s oldest profession; do we deserve to talk on this new business opportunity;
Rules and regulations should soon be put in place. A proper body with power to acquit or sentence is needed. Make it possible for the couples who cannot otherwise have their own biological children, to have children. Let the rules, regulations and functionaries take care to see that the surrogate mothers are well cared for, and emotionally prepared for the separation. Let it not look like a exploitation of poor surrogate mothers of the developing world, but as service of humans to each other.
It's becoming a more complex issue as the notion of the 'body' is getting problematized. the question of 'agency' comes forth. this is also a consensual issue to put the question, who is giving the consent. not only on the state's part, but also on the part of concerned individual. this is important to understand, how the consent is being shaped. not only the economic factor, the cultural perception of female body, I think also plays a vital role in shaping the consent. We should look at this issue more deeply, rather than only reducing it to a mere economic factor.
More than Govt., it is IMRC responsible for allowing the unchecked exploitation of Indian women.But IMRC like Govt. of India is more of personal money spinning machine that the protectors of the citizens.The fat medical professionals are propellents of such scams, this one being one of the many.
I agree that there is a lot of money involved , its simple ,"there is a
crime behind great fortune" , govt should wake up,bring in strict
guidelines and clear laws.
Europe does not allow surrogacy, America does. In its quest for modernity of American vintage Indian government is moving ahead to give this new industry a legal status and American a cheap alternative. But its target is the poor women of the country who are not poor for their fault; they are the deprived section of population by the same system who now offers them a new avenue for earning, demeaning their personality and dignity. This is the same system that had promised liberation to women. EPW in one of its current essay on the subject informs that in America the rate is 80,000 dollars, while in India the current rate is 5000 dollars instead all because of its poverty which is being taken advantage of by the corporate world. Unfortunately, Indian media is clamouring for a legal frame to regulate surrogacy i.e the business to hire or rent out the womb of a poor Indian lady.
We have such a vast population that ,No govt. can remove poverty ,neither feed every body.Every body need money by easy way,Women are nor forced to surrogacy ,But it is the need of money that forced hers to get in this job. And what is wrong in this if anybody doing this by their desire.Yes,There should be rules and regulations from which women get maximum benefit for doing this.
Reading from the article, I think the health of the women is in danger. When a woman in the article wants to get her daughter married, how old do you think she is? Most likely in forties. How can you allow that to happen? Older women are not equipped with the essential traits found in younger women. 5 or 10 lacks, the need of food and cost of living may not be sufficiently fulfilled.
These women are also providing their own eggs. In many cases, the customers are merely buying babies that are manufactured using both eggs and sperm provided by the fertility clinics. In some cases, the babies are manufactured using sperm from foreign donors and eggs from surrogate mothers. Even though these babies are of "Indian" origin, they are being shipped to foreign countries to whatever fate they may face.
It is strange that while the foreign parents face a barrage of questions and procedures when they adopt an Indian orphan child, absolutely no questions are raised when they take a manufactured Indian baby from a fertility clinic out of the country.
What is the ethical rationale behind creating a biracial child and shipping them off to foreign countries? Did anyone think about their future in a different racial environment?
No other country in the world allows this.
It seems that the article was written with the bias that surrogacy is bad. These women are giving happiness to couples who may not be able to have children otherwise. I agree that their ought to be laws to protect surrogate mothers and have some king of insurance in case some unfortunate event occurs. However, other than that, it should be considered a good thing. Yes, these women are doing that because of their financial problems. However, if not this, they might as well go for prostitution or just die of hunger. I also do not see any religious reasons (as far as India is concerned) to be against it. I think its in the best interest for the clinics to take care of these women as well. So, they might actually get to live a more hygienic life than they would otherwise.
Protecting the women who work as surrogate mothers has become a need of the day. These women choose the path of surrogacy out of poverty with hopes of earning some money. One one hand surrogacy is a ray of hope for the childless couples but on the other it is a potential threat for the poor women who feel in the trap of such fertility clinics.These clinics are making money from selling motherhood.
It is the prime responsibility of the government of India to make strict laws for the protection of women. On one side we talk about the women rights on the other some women are forced in to surrogacy. This is an alarm, we all need to protect the faith of Women in India.
It is shameful on the part of the government not to have defined a clear policy for the protection women in India wherein there is a lot of hue and cry for women empowerment.If government doesn't act fast poor women will be trapped into the industry of surrogacy as money making machines.
Make sure it is informed, consensual and the health of the mother is protected. Any sign of
coercion is noted, shut the place down. Law should make sure reasonable dividend of
money is given to the surrogate mother without any strings attached.
Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) is now globally a multi-billion dollar industry. Surrogate motherhood is just one component of ART and the market forces of demand and supply takes control. The unorganized women of low-income group in the third world are extremely vulnerable for exploitation. The "hardship compensation" has already dropped from Rs 5 lakhs to about 3 lakhs.
Before this ends up as a "scam" the professional associations must put in place, adequate checks and balances.
this is a highly sickening news. I can't believe such things are happening. Govt of India should immediately ban this unethical and immoral procedure. Foreigners are welcome to get themselves treated at a cheap price but this is totally different!! Media must highlight this issue and not stop until this is stopped. Have we got no morals left at all?
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