Lending a Womb

Surrogacy is just an arrangement or a contract by which a woman carries and delivers the child for another couple. The child(i.e., egg) could belong to the surrogate or she could just be carrying an embryo.

I don't doubt the basis, intent, thought behind resorting to surrogacy or an altruistic act of a surrogate. Afterall, she is helping a couple who are incapable of having their own child. She delivers this enormous amount of happiness and joy to a couple in form of a beautiful baby. This is indeed an act of supreme kindness. But then, there is commercial surrogacy too. And that is what India specializes in.

Some of the surrogates interviewed in Gujrat have said that they don't consider the baby as their own from the moment they sign the contract. So when he/she kicks in the middle of the night and makes his presence felt, he doesn't belong to her. They have somehow managed to convince themselves about this. But, how could a woman not feel anything (no, its not a question mark...we all know the answer).

"The fetus is theirs, so I'm not sad to give it back," said Gheewala, who plans to save the $6,250 US she's earning for her two daughters' education. "The child will go to the U.S. and lead a better life and I'll be happy."

The reason they do it - it is noble and nice to help out people and give them this enormous joy of being a parent and filling their lives with a bundle of joy. And, it helps them economically. The later is an issue which requires some discussion (by the policy makers).

The question isn't exactly whether surrogacy is legally correct or not (though there are legal implications to be considered)? In India, it is. In fact here surrogacy is particularly attractive for two reasons. Surrogacy comes at a considerably cheaper price and there are hardly any legal hurdles. But then, just as India is becoming a hub of "baby-production", new issues seem to crop up.

For instance, what if the foetus dies prematurely?  What if the surrogate dies while in labour or  immediately after that? What if she gives birth to a stillborn baby?  Every birth leads to calcium depletion in a woman. Is there any follow-up or any method by which some help could be provided in that regard? India doesn't have a proper legal framework to handle such cases.

What about the rights of the child? Does he ever get to know his surrogate mother? What if the couple get divorced during the nine months? Sometimes due to legal issues, few couples just end up adopting their own child because the laws in their country do not approve of surrogacy. The case of the twin brothers in Mumbai is very poignant, disheartening and raises a lot of questions. The Norwegian government has refused to make this surrogacy legal and India has refused to grant them citizenship too because they belong to the Norwegian couple. The problem is that the DNA of the children do not match with the couple's DNA, even though the clinic has claimed that no foul play is involved. The problem remains- the children have nowhere to stay! No place to call their own place! India does have a surrogacy bill which addresses citizenship issues but that might not be of much help in providing a home to these two babies.

In such cases...I mean where the couple are unable to conceive for whatever reasons, what is so bad about adopting an orphan? A baby is a baby...as pure as a flower. How does it matter whether its yours or mine? If you give someone love, they'd love you back...isn't that what the world is about? Afterall, Yashoda wasn't any less of a mother than Devaki!!! Krishna wasn't any less closer to Yashoda (if not more!).

There are ethical issues which crop up too. Is surrogacy some sort of exploitation? The maternal mortality rate is very high in India and so something like this does increase the risk to life. Surrogacy has become a flourishing profession in some places. Sometimes, it isn't exactly voluntary in the true sense of the word. When there are a couple of mouths to feed at home and income too little, such a step would be considered normal. So then, is this another form of outsourcing?  There are travel agencies which specialise in medical tourism. They often offer a package deal, with flight tickets to the actual babies!!!

There is an interesting example. Haryana is a male dominant state where the M/F ratio is seriously skewed. Women aren't very educated and have little rights/say about anything. In fact family members (male) have killed their daughters when they tried to marry on  their own will or marry someone of their own caste/gotra/village etc in the name of honour killing. The father of a CWG gold-medalist says that he would kill his daughter if she married against his wishes, infront of the entire media! They do not approve of western wear (jeans) for women. They have "khap panchyats" which are almost like parallel governments and make legally binding decisions. But...but when it comes to surrogacy, then everything is okay! And why is that- because it is economically profitable, at the cost of a woman's health! A woman gets about a lac or two (above all medical bills) and that is definately alluring. So there is an entire village which does this! Is this not exploiting a woman?

Is outsourcing wombs morally right?