03 February,2009 08:10 AM IST | | Khalid A-H Ansari
wombs for rent: Surrogate mothers are seen at a hospital in Anand, Gujarat. The hospital's clinic matches infertile couples with local women, who act as surrogates. Experts say commercial surrogacy is growing in India. It was legalised in 2002 file pic
Commercial surrogacy has been legal in India since 2002, but large numbers of Australians are now going in for it here since, for them, the strengthening of the US dollar vis-u00e0-vis their dollar has pushed the cost of buying a baby from the US to over Rs 1 crore (approx).
For Rs 10 lakh
On the other hand, a baby carried by an Indian surrogate mother can be bought for as little as Rs 10 lakh, plus an extra Rs 3.5 lakh if the couple wish to use a Caucasian egg donor, who is usually flown in from South Africa.
In the normal course, surrogate parents do not meet the woman bearing the child or the donor who provided the eggs. They are not allowed to attend the birth or meet any of the child's family.
Baby for 5th time
The Sydney Morning Herald quotes 34-year old single mother Neelam Chauhan, a Delhi suburbanite, as admitting that she will soon give birth for a fifth time, but only two of those babies are her own.
Chauhan says the main reason she has gone in for three surrogacies over the past five years is because of financial problems.
She was paid approx Rs 1 lakh for her first surrogate pregnancy, which she used to pay off debts after a divorce.
Her second surrogacy fetched her almost three times that amount including a bonus that helped her buy a house.
Kids' education
Chauhan plans to use most of this year's payment of Rs 3.75 lakh (approx) for the education of her two sons Pankaj (12) and Shivam (10).
Anoop Gupta, who runs Delhi-IVF, the clinic handling Chauhan's pregnancy, says that, increasingly, Indian middle-class women are becoming surrogates to secure a better family lifestyle.
"We are getting a lot more walk-in surrogates who are well-educated," he says, adding that he sometimes gets 20 e-mails from couples around the world inquiring about surrogacy.
No official figures are available, but it is estimated that hundreds of surrogate babies are being born each year in the country.
"Often ladies come in with their husbands to inquire about surrogacy, saying they want the money to buy a car or do up their interiors," Gupta says.
However, critics of India's burgeoning surrogate industry say the practice exploits the poor and endangers the health of vulnerable women.
30 Oz couples
With an estimated 30 Australian couples presently pursuing surrogacy in India, supporters of the scheme deny there is any exploitation of the country's poor.
"These are not slum dwellers," asserted Megan Sainsbury, a spokeswoman for Australia India Surrogacy Advocates.
"They are middle class women who have the approval and support of their families. They are not being forced into it. None of us would ever exploit a person from a Third World country," Sainsbury said recently.
"We are furious about this. India has some of the strictest regulations regarding psychological testing in the world for surrogates and potential parents. They do not accept people who are in it purely for the money or those who want to exploit someone less fortunate than themselves."
Altruistic laws
Nevertheless, the Australian government is considering changes to altruistic surrogacy laws in the country, which would make it obligatory for surrogates to live in the same jurisdiction as the intended parents, failing which the parents will not be granted custody.
Laws could also preclude "exploitative arrangements" with Third World countries.
(Source: The Sydney Morning Herald)
