Indian IVF doctors warn of ‘poverty trap’ as they slam move to ban commercial surrogacy
Leading Indian fertility doctors and surrogate mothers on Thursday criticised a move to ban commercial surrogacy, saying it will severely limit options for childless couples and women who carry others’ babies as a way out of poverty.
India’s cabinet on Wednesday cleared a bill to restrict surrogacy services to Indian married couples, following concerns over the “rent-a-womb” industry exploiting impoverished young women.
When I became a surrogate I got three lakh rupees (US$4,475) as compensation ... I used it to repair my house and educate my child
The bill seeks to bar foreign, single and homosexual would-be parents from surrogacy services in India and states that only women who are close relatives of a beneficiary can act as surrogates.
Gita Makwana, 33, who became a surrogate mother in 2010 after having one child of her own, said the bill would remove avenues for women like her to escape poverty.
“When I became a surrogate I got three lakh rupees (US$4,475) as compensation,” Makwana from Anand in Gujarat state, a centre for India’s surrogacy sector, told AFP.
“I used it to repair my house and educate my child. But with the new rules coming in, women who want to become surrogates to support their families, will not be able to do so,” she said.
