20 OUTLOOK 5 August 2019
SURROGACY LAW
are born without a uterus, and many men and
women have congenital conditions because of
which they can never conceive. Why should they
have to wait for five years after getting married
to have a child through surrogacy?”
Dr Rishma Pai, former president of the
Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological
Societies of India, feels the requirement of an
infertility certificate poses another complica-
tion. “Infertility is the most common ground for
seeking divorce,” she says. “This bill will make it
so much easier for a man, or even a woman, to
seek a divorce because a certificate of infertility
is a legally acceptable ground for separation.”
The government could also be, unwittingly,
violating the Constitution. “The Supreme Court
has upheld homosexuality as well as the sanctity
of live-in relationships. Adoption is allowed for
homosexuals, live-in couples and even single
parents. Why then is the government selectively
allowing only married heterosexual couples the
right to surrogacy?” asks advocate Pritpal Nijjar,
member of the International Surrogacy Forum,
who believes the provision violates Article 14
(equality before law) of the Constitution.
Critics of commercial surrogacy have pointed
to the proliferation of surrogacy clinics and
claimed, not always without proof, that several
women from financially weaker sections were
being lured into bearing four to five surrogate
children over seven to eight years, endangering
the surrogate mother’s health. A common
allegation also is that surrogacy clinics and
agents who scout for women willing to rent
their wombs were cornering a lion’s share of
the Rs 12-14 lakh that commissioning parents
paid, with the surrogate mother getting Rs 3
lakh or even less.
“The assumption that doctors and agents
shortchange the surrogate mother is misplaced,”
argues Dr Bakshi, insisting that while the surro-
gate is paid Rs 3-5 lakh, the rest mostly goestow ards expenses for the IVF procedure and
hospital charges, besides paying the agent.
Seema has been an agent for the past eight years,
connecting surrogates with couples and ART
clinics. “I get Rs 50,000, which is paid after the
delivery of the child,” says Seema, whose hus-
band died a few years ago, leaving her to care for
their two children and a mother-in-law.
“Earning Rs 6,000 a month as a domestic worker,
how was I supposed to run a family of four, pay
rent and send my kids to school? I learned about
surrogacy from a woman in the neighbourhood,
who also put me in touch with a clinic. Now, I
visit low-income neighbourhoods and find pro-
spective surrogates in need of money.”
Another agent says that once a woman agrees
to become a surrogate, her first task is to speak
to her husband and his family. “Only after the
family agrees do we introduce the surrogate to
the clinic,” she says. “In most clinics I have
worked with, the surrogate is asked to open a
bank account so the money can be directly
transferred to her. We also make sure she gets
Rs 8,000-10,000 a month for her personal care,
medication and food.”B
UT why do couples choose surrogacy over
adopting a child? Ask Akash and Preeti
(names changed), who have been married
for three years ago and are contemplating
having a surrogate child. Akash has a congenital
coronary disorder, while Preeti suffers from
severe epilepsy and a gynaecological problem.
“Our doctors told us that while we have no fer-
tility issues, it isn’t safe for us to have a baby,”
says Preeti. “We first thought of adopting a
child, but felt we should have a child who is our
own blood. Surrogacy seems like a win-win
thing. We get a child and a needy woman gets
money. What is wrong in that?”
In a country where infertility remains a stigma
and families place a premium on a child who is
“apna khoon” (our ownblood), Akash and Preeti’s
desire for a surrogate child and not an adopted
one is, perhaps, understandable. Dr Patel, whose
Akanksha Clinic has seen about 1,200 surrogate
births since 2004, says the government’s “intent
of making commercial surrogacy appear like the
villain” is the result of “patriarchy and a mis-
placed sense of morality”. Of the total number
of pregnancies accomplished through IVF/ART
procedures in India, she says, “surrogate births
comprise just about 2 per cent” and if the gov-
ernment really wanted to regulate surrogacy
and not ban it, it should have taken the views of
experts more seriously. And now, given the
majority the BJP-led government enjoys in the
Lok Sabha and its growing strength in the Rajya
Sabha, the passage of the bill in its current form
is, perhaps, a foregone conclusion. O“The bill is
absurd. It
does not
understand
artificial
reproduction
technology,"
says Dr Rita
Bakshi.