American couples head to India for cheaper fertility services. ‘In the U.S. a childless couple would have to spend anything up to $50,000′ but ‘in India, it’s done for $10,000-$12,000.’ Surrogate motherhood is among the latest in a long list of roles being outsourced to India. Recent data postulates that women of families who are not able to furnish their children with two ends meal would often go in for surrogacy. There are instances when the only breadwinner of a family is unable to work because of some mishap in factories or industries. It becomes really difficult for them to survive when they have to face the bleak reality of life. And so they are left with no option except to ‘rent their womb’. These people are going ahead with the task because of their financial crunch and they see no other way to come out of it. However, there are critics in India who are tagging it as ‘commoditization of motherhood’ and an exploitation of the poor by the rich. When questioned, a surrogate mother replied, ‘It’s true I’m doing this for money, but is it also not true that a childless couple is benefiting?’ Some experts are also of the view that educated working women may turn to hired wombs to avoid a pregnancy as it might affect their careers. But in here, there is social dimension to their service, an empathy with the childless couple. The egg is derived from a donor to reduce chances of developing an emotional attachment to the baby. Both parties, sign a contract according to which, the couple pay all the expenses of the surrogate mother for nine months, provides her with all the required needs with best health care facilities and in return, the mother gives up her right to the baby. If we look at the figures: 1. It is estimated that between 100-150 surrogate babies are born each year in India. 2. 500-600 surrogate babies are born each year throughout the world. 3. At least seven surrogate mothers will deliver later this year in India. 4. The incidence of surrogacy has doubled in the last three to five years. Not only the entire process is cheaper but is also low-priced in comparison with IVF. Also it does not involve any high rated legal formalities. Bottom line Since, the whole process ‘is associated with some health risk’ so the trend should be restricted as soon as possible. Pregnancy is a difficult and arduous process, and I worry about exploitation. Instead, the childless couple must encouraged to adopt rather than taking advantage of the poor people, whether it’s about India or about Athens. Strict laws must be implemented that should curb the growing trend.
