AP
“Almost all surrogate mothers and commissioning parents agree that foreign surrogacy should not be stopped.”
After a court ban and proposed changes to legislation, the lucrative
industry could lose its best paying ‘customer’ — commissioning couples
from other countries.
In India, the engine that drove the multi-billion surrogacy industry was
globally falling birth rates, and over the past decade, India’s
“liberal” laws further propelled the entirely unregulated sector to
organise itself into a fast growing profitable venture.
Now, the rules are set to change.
On November 4, the Supreme Court imposed a ban on the customer in
question — foreign nationals. Through the introduction of the proposed
Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill, the Central Government now
seeks to narrow surrogacy services to Indian couples or foreigners
married to Indian citizens.
There is now unhappiness.
“It’s foul play,” a group of commercial surrogate mothers tells this
correspondent. They believe they are doing a “noble job”. The money
doesn’t hurt either.
“The couple of the child I am carrying have been trying to have kids for
15 years,” says ‘Y’, a 24-year-old commercial surrogate and a
biological mother to her two-year-old child. Her husband is a driver and
they are in the business “because it also pays well.’’
“I want to go back to my village, buy land and settle down,” she says.
“This money is the only way out. My husband will never be able to earn
enough for us to return home. But if become a surrogate mother, we will
have enough money,” she explains.
Another surrogate, ‘X’, said she did this for her child’s future. “What
is wrong in this?” ‘X’ has a seven-year-old biological son who she hopes
to send to a good school and away from the rigours of city life. “After
this delivery and sending my child to hostel, I will work full-time. If
my husband and I work, we will be able to ensure that my child becomes a
doctor and escapes this life of struggle,” she explains. “After all, we
have no pension or government security in our old age. Who knows if our
children will take care of us? It’s only prudent to save for the
future. Motherhood and the ability to have children is a gift that
nature has given to lucky women... I don’t think there is anything wrong
in ‘gifting’ and ‘sharing’ this divine power and engaging in something
that is mutually beneficially to all the parties involved,” she adds.
The arguments are not new. A group of surrogate mothers has moved the
Supreme Court seeking a withdrawal of the November 4 circular banning
foreign commissioning parents.
Grey area
Commercial surrogacy, largely an unregulated grey area, has been allowed
in India since 2002. The Supreme Court (2008) called surrogacy a
medical procedure legal in several countries including India. The
surrogacy debate started with the Baby Manji Yamada case in which
the commissioning parents divorced during the pregnancy and the
commissioning mother refused to accept the baby. The court finally
granted custody to the baby’s grandmother. In 2008, another case, on the
citizenship of surrogate babies, led the Gujarat High Court to state
that there is “extreme urgency to push through legislation” which
addresses issues that arise out of surrogacy.
A draft ART Bill, pending in Parliament since 2010, is now expected to be taken up in the on-going winter session.
It is India’s first attempt at regulating the surrogacy industry which
was earlier guided by the National Guidelines for Accreditation,
Supervision and Regulation of ART Clinics in India, 2005, and
subsequently amended in 2008, 2010 and 2013.
It is being seen as a setback for commissioning parents. After being
married for over a decade, Dr. R, a British passport holder and a
gastroenterologist of Indian-origin came back to India to “complete his
family”.
“Adoption wasn’t an option,” says Mrs. L as she hugs her newborn child.
Now a mother after a year of the surrogacy process was initiated at a
Delhi clinic, she is very clear about why she and her husband came to
India. “The country offers the best in terms of medical advancement,
it’s reliable, cheap and world class. Besides, surrogate mothers are
available here in India which isn’t the case in most parts of the
world.”
Almost all surrogate mothers and commissioning parents this
correspondent spoke to agree that foreign surrogacy should not be
stopped. The association of medical practitioners providing fertility
treatments are concerned that the government, instead of effecting
better regulation, has imposed a blanket ban on a section of customers.
Dr. Shivani Sachdev Gour, secretary, Indian Society for Third Party
Assisted Reproduction (Instar) said, “We feel the new restrictions are
too binding. You have to understand that surrogacy needs a more humane
approach and more individual case-by-case attention. We cannot have a
single blanket rule to govern the ethical and legal nuances of
surrogacy.”
But women’s rights organisations say that “poor” women should not be
exploited in the name of noble work. Dr. Ranjana Kumari, director,
Centre for Social Research said, “There are many issues besides sex
selection and exploitation of the poor surrogate mothers. There are
countries that do not allow surrogacy. What would the nationality of the
child be when the intended parents are from that country? About 48 per
cent couples opting for surrogacy are foreigners.”
Dr. Kumari notes that surrogates aren’t given their due. “Though the
couple who wants to have a baby through a surrogate mother pays anything
between Rs.2 lakh to Rs.5 lakh to agents, the woman who delivers the
baby gets only Rs.75,000 to Rs.1 lakh,” she says.
Cheap medical facilities, advanced reproductive technological knowhow,
coupled with poor socio-economic conditions and a lack of regulatory
laws in India are what make India an attractive option.
In India, the business of providing “wombs on rent” is now valued at
$500 million. The number of cases of surrogacy is believed to be
increasing at a galloping rate,” says Dr.Kumari.
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data says that approximately
2,000 babies are born every year through commercial surrogacy.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) figures claim that surrogacy is a
$2.3 billion industry in India, because it is largely unregulated and
cheap. Clinics function in tight cliques; unrelated centres like dental
clinics sometimes assist fertility clinics, say experts.
ICMR says that professional surrogates need to “protected against
exploitation”. A senior official said, “We hope to ensure accountability
of the ART banks and ensure that the malpractices — private clinics
advertise for surrogates and the money paid is arbitrary — is eliminated
altogether. Also, [the] rights of the commissioning couples will be
protected and the industry will be streamlined and brought under the
preview of proper rules and regulations.”
Sources: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a-setback-for-surrogacy-in-india/article7927730.ece?css=print
