Commercial Surrogacy in India: An Overview
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51983/arss-2019.8.2.1592Keywords:
Surrogacy, Genetic, Gestational, Banned, StakeholdersAbstract
Commercial surrogacy is an arrangement in which a woman agrees to carry a person (s) child and is paid for her services which is beyond medical expenses associated with the pregnancy. It can be gestational as well as genetic. Though it has been supported on the grounds that it helps both the childless couple and the surrogate, it has also been criticized on the grounds that it exploits the surrogates. In the year 2002 commercial surrogacy was legalized in India. With time India emerged as the hub of commercial surrogacy for primarily four reasons. Firstly, low cost. Secondly, world class medical facilities. Thirdly, easily available surrogates and lastly, lenient rules and regulations. With time many cases begun to emerge in which different stakeholders were harassed due to the lack of codified laws. On 19th December 2018, the Indian state passed a bill banning commercial surrogacy. The paper attempts to trace the journey of commercial surrogacy in India.
References
Chaudhary, A., & Cyra, A. (2015). The Political Economy and Legal Regulation of Transnational Commercial Surrogate Labour. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational, 48(1), 1-65.
Chaterjee, B. (2018, December 29). Government should not be in haste to implement surrogacy laws. Sunday Guardian Times. Retrieved from https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/government-shouldnt-haste-implement-surrogacy-laws
Choudhary, A. A. (2015, October 15). SC Surrogates Ban on Commercial Surrogacy. The Times of India. Retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SC-suggests-ban-on-commercial-surrogacy/articleshow/49365734.cms
Drabiak, K., Wegner, C., Fredland, V., & Helft, P. R. (2007). Ethics, Law, and Commercial Surrogacy: A Call for Uniformity. The Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, 35(2), 300-309. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1748-720X.2007.00139.x
Majumdar, A. (2018, December 24). What is Altruistic Surrogacy. The Hindu. Retrieved from https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/what-is-altruistic-surrogacy/article25814445.ece
Merrick, J. C. (1990). Selling Reproductive Rights: Policy Issues in Surrogate Motherhood. Politics and the Life Sciences, 8(2), 161-172. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1017/S0730938400009709
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. (2018). India in Figures. India.
Niekerk, A. van, & Zyl, L. van. (1995). The Ethics of Surrogacy: Women’s Reproductive Labour. Journal of Medical Ethics, 21(6), 345-349.
Nussbaum, M. C. (1998). Whether from Reason or Prejudice: Taking Money for Bodily Services. The Journal of Legal Studies, 27(S2), 693-723.
Pande, A. (2010). At Least I am Not Sleeping with Anyone: Resisting the Stigma of Commercial Surrogacy in India. Feminist Studies, 36(2), 292-312.
Poverty and Equity Data Portal. (n.d). The World Bank. Retrieved from http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/country/IND
Rai, S. (2010, September 21). Designer babies, with an Indian twist. Public Radio International. Retrieved from https://www.pri.org/stories/2010-09-21/designer-babies-indian-twist
Sharma, N. C. (2018, December 20th). Lok Sabha passes surrogacy bill in likely boost for adoption in India. Livemint. Retrieved from https://www.livemint.com/Politics/hARv5 G5wm1Fo2QQqQ43I3J/Lok-Sabha-passes-surrogacy-bill-in-likely-boost-for-adoption.html
Surrogate Mom Alleges Underpayment by Private Hospital After Delivery of Twins. (2015, July 14th) The New Indian Express. Retrieved from http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2015/jul/14/Surrogate-Mom-Alleges-Underpayment-by-Private-Hospital-After-Delivery-of-Twins-783625.html
The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. (n.d) UN Women. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/
Wadekar, N. (2011). Wombs for Rent: A Bioethical Analysis of Commercial Surrogacy in India. Tuftscope The Journal of Health, Ethics and Policy (online), 10(3). Retrieved from http://www.nehawadekar.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Neha-Wadekar_Writing-Sample-1_Surrogacy-Published.pdf
Watson, C. (2016). Womb Rentals and Baby-Selling: Does Surrogacy Undermine the Human Dignity and Rights of the Surrogate Mother and Child. The New Bioethics, 22(3), 212-228. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/20502877.2016.1238582
Women and Poverty. (n.d) UN Women. Retrieved from http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/end-violence-against-women/2014/poverty
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2019 The Research Publication
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.