New legislation would lock foreigners out of the country's thriving but mostly unregulated fertility clinics, and limit surrogacy to Indian couples who have been married for more than five years and are unable to have children.
Even in these cases, a family member must serve as the surrogate.
Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters Wednesday that the proposed law would stop foreigners and gay couples hiring Indian surrogates.
She said there were too many instances of people abusing surrogacy, including couples who had abandoned unwanted children or babies born with disabilities.
India is a top destination for foreign medical tourists seeking surrogates -- often at very cheap prices. According to Swaraj, there are more than 2,000 fertility clinics currently operating in the country.
Critics say Indian women hired as surrogates are frequently abused, and they describe disreputable clinics as "rent-a-womb" operations. Last year, lawyer Jayashree Wad asked India's Supreme Court to ban commercial surrogacy, saying the practice amounts "to exploitation of women for commercial gains."
"In the process of surrogate motherhood, a commercial element is introduced and Indian women are exploited and substantial benefit is derived by doctors, hospitals and institutions involved in it," Wad told the court.
According to the medical journal The Lancet, having a child through surrogacy in India costs roughly $25,000, while the same service can cost up to 10 times as much in the United States.
Indian women hired as surrogate mothers are typically paid $5,000 to $7,000, while their counterparts in the U.S. command up to $25,000. Still, The Lancet notes that this is an "enormous sum" for poor Indian women who might make $300 in a typical year.
Advocates, meanwhile, said the government's decision to ban certain groups from fertility services, rather than implement better regulations, marked a "black day."
"This was a great industry. It has benefited thousands of couples," said Dr. Rita Bakshi, founder of International Fertility Centre and the director of a pro-surrogacy NGO. "If people can come to India for cataract or heart surgery, then what's wrong with this?"
The draft law has been approved by India's cabinet, and is expected to be debated in parliament later this year.
Taken from HERE.
More on this topic from CNN HERE.
And a video clip of a news item from 2013:
If this video does not play, you can find it HERE
Commercial surrogacy in India has been legal since 2002 and has been a controversy since then. Some people said this ‘industry’ help a lot of infertile parents who want to have children and also many impoverished and low-educated women in India to earn money for their family. The surrogate mothers usually apply work in a clinic that help them to get some client. The clients could be from India or another country. Many human rights groups oppose this commercial surrogacy businesses because of their exploitative treatment of the surrogate mother and also the unethical nature of this business. Indian government’s ban on commercial surrogacy will receive pro and contra within the country.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, if the Indian government does really want to ban the commercial surrogacy business, they should provide better education for women in their country and empower them so that the women could be more independent and have a better job than renting their womb.
Rayhan wrote: "Indian government’s ban on commercial surrogacy will receive pro and contra within the country."
DeleteFirst, it should be THE Indian government’s ban.
The expression "will receive pro and contra within the country" does not sound right.
Maybe like this is better:
"...will be met with support and opposition within the country".
I don't know why India did this for their medical policies. Okay... maybe in the US, surrogacies are so expensive because of how their economy works, and their population of citizens aren't as rational as Indians. In India, Surrogate are typically (there’s even a "typical" word) paid about $5000 - $7000 for their job. It's also unappropriated for the surrogate mothers to be treated in that kind of way, all facilities should be provided and the surrogate should not be in a controversial state. I don’t know how regulations work in India, but for me, those actions are beyond the what so called human rights. Where people should be treated fairly by their actions in serving the people. The government in India should do something about this situation because of the number of birth control in India aren’t stable, and the people should accept of the point that surrogates do exist for a purpose.
ReplyDeleteAl wrote: "Okay... maybe in the US, surrogacies are so expensive because of how their economy works, and their population of citizens aren't as rational as Indians."
DeleteThis is an interesting claim that you make!
As stated in the article, surrogacy has been a trend in India due to the lower price the clinics offers which is five times cheaper than the price US offers. Due to the debates of whether surrogacy ‘exploits’ women or brings more positive outcome, has made the Indian government consider to stop surrogacy in India, especially to foreigners that made up two third of this ‘rent-a-womb’ industry. It exploits woman as it risks both the lives of the surrogate and the child, and sometimes when the child turns out to have a disability, the child is abandoned. However beside it all, surrogacy advantages both the surrogate that needs money to give a roof above their families and also the couple hiring them by bringing up children that they may not be able to have on their own. Majority of feminists are against this whole idea that it is against nature of women to have their womb become a commercials however, some views the idea of surrogacy as something a woman sacrifice for other women, that a it is a win-win situation of completing other women’s family and in turn being able to improve the life of their own family with the money received.
ReplyDeleteDita wrote: "Surrogacy advantages both the surrogate that needs money to give a roof above their families and also the couple hiring them by bringing up children that they may not be able to have on their own."
DeleteCompare to mine:
"Surrogacy gives advantages to both the surrogate that needs money to give a roof over their families' heads and also the couple hiring them by bringing up children that they may not be able to have on their own."
From the article above we may conclude that sometimes people do unconventional things for certain reasons. There are mothers who aren’t destined to give birth to their own babies and hire someone else to do it. Then there are also the mothers who are willing to ‘rent their womb’ for financial gain. For whatever reasons, the topic in no doubt has raised debates all over the world whether it be from a medical or even, economic perspectives. In my opinion, regulating laws to ban surrogacy will lead to more controversy on this already established fertility business. In a country with notorious reputation of high poverty like India, they sometimes forget ethical views for matters like this, for the sake of feeding their families. The problem of this situation is it doesn’t just affect a surrogate mother’s physicality, it also affects their mentality. Imagine carrying a living person as a weight for 9 months, there must be a development of emotional attachment in between. To my advice, I think it’d be best if these mothers were to given proper medical attention and also psychological help. In that way, these businesses could still run, in the hope that it is done in a legitimate, proper, standard procedure.
ReplyDeleteFat wrote: "I think it’d be best if these mothers were to given proper medical attention..."
DeleteIt should be either:
"I think it’d be best if these mothers were to be given proper medical attention..."
or...
"I think it’d be best if these mothers were given proper medical attention..."
This topic about commercial surrogacy is actually very debatable. When people said that commercial surrogacy helps people who wants to have a baby but are not destined to have one, they are actually quite right. However, when an embryo of a baby is developing in a surrogate’s womb, I believe that the baby will have some kind of emotional connection with the surrogate. And I believe that both of them shouldn’t be separated, just like a mother who gives birth to a child. Therefore, I don’t think surrogacy is the proper way for mothers to have a baby.
ReplyDeleteIn the case of surrogacy in India though, I think that the government’s decision to stop foreigners hiring Indian surrogates is a reckless decision. This industry is an established industry in which many people are in it to raise their incomes and so that they can afford foods. Because as we know, India is one of the most populous country, ranked 2nd according to census.gov, and it is hard for the citizens to find a proper job. The government can’t just take their “job” and their income source. In my opinion, it would be wiser if the government make new regulations for this industry that will benefit the surrogates.
References:
https://www.census.gov/popclock/print.php?component=counter
Alex wrote: "I think that the government’s decision to stop foreigners hiring Indian surrogates is a reckless decision."
DeleteWhen you find yourself repeating a noun like this (in this case "decision"), you should use "one" instead. Like this:
"I think that the government’s decision to stop foreigners hiring Indian surrogates is a reckless one."
It is debatable here whether India should ban surrogacy or not. First, the thing that motivated Indian women to become surrogates is because of their high economic disparity, poverty, and very low income. Banning surrogacy will bring bring down the economy because being a surrogates in india will bring you an enormous amount of money compared to the average income of poor people in India. Whilst I am strongly against the exploitation of human and human trafficking, I think that surrogacy is done with an agreement between the surrogates and the person who wants to have baby and surrogacy is done for a reason. Banning surrogacy will cause a lot of pros and cons, especially from the people who are involved and made money from the business. Rather than just shutting this business in excuse of human rights, the government should create a clear and legitimate procedure and rules to protect the surrogates from being mistreated. Indian government could not just stop and ban this surrogacy businesses because there are a lot of people who live out of this business and doing this for the sake of their families.
ReplyDeleteDimas wrote: "Banning surrogacy will bring bring down the economy because being a surrogates in india will bring you an enormous amount of money compared to the average income of poor people in India."
DeleteCompare to mine:
"Banning surrogacy would bring bring down the economy because being a surrogates brings people an enormous amount of money compared to the average income of poor people in India."
I have changed "will" to "would" because it hasn't been banned yet, so it is a hypothetical. And the second "will" is changed to present tense because it is happening now. I have also avoided repeating "in India" in the way you have.
Some women cannot be pregnant or infertile. Whereas, it is most of women’s hope and dream to be pregnant or to have babies. One of the reasons why some women cannot be pregnant or infertile is because the uterus is not strong enough for the woman to be pregnant. This problem commonly be overcome by surrogacy. In India, surrogacy is relatively low cost and this attracts foreign couples to pay Indian women to have babies as it is cheaper than in other countries. In 2008, the Supreme Court of India has held that commercial surrogacy is permitted in India. But later in March 2017, the Indian government extended the commercial surrogacy ban to everyone. One of the downsides of commercial surrogacy is that selling pregnancy as a service is untenable because it puts a price on human body parts and life, and it is unethical to make this as a business.
ReplyDeleteSophie wrote: "Some women cannot be pregnant or infertile."
DeleteThe way you have written this is confusing. It sounds like this:
Some women cannot be [1] pregnant, and [2] infertile. This, of course, does not make sense. Look at two other ways of expressing it correctly:
"Some women cannot get pregnant because they are infertile."
"Some women are infertile which means they cannot get pregnant."
The subject about commercial surrogacy is very controversial among Indian citizens. As written in the article, surrogacy clinics offer very cheap services, fives time lower than services done in the United States. It has been debated in the Indian Government whether surrogacy exploits women for commercial gains or help women who are in need of a surrogate. They are considering to stop this industry because two third of the industry was made by foreigners. Looking at this matter, I have two contrast opinions. As surveyed conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10% of women in the United States aged 14 until 55 have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant. As a woman I feel like it has always been a dream to have children of our own and build a family. Unfortunately, there are women who are unable to fulfill that experience because of medical concerns. The only way they can they are able to fulfill their dream is through a surrogate which will carry their baby for 9 months. On the other hand, the harsh reality that women are being exploited by being a surrogate had concerned the Indian Government and they feel the need to take action. Therefore, I believe that I would be better if the India Government implement better regulations so that both parties wouldn’t feel aggrieved.
ReplyDeleteHanna wrote: "It has been debated in the Indian Government whether surrogacy exploits women for commercial gains or help women who are in need of a surrogate."
DeleteActually, this is not what has been debated. The idea that surrogates help women who cannot have babies of their own is not disputed. And I don't think 'exploitation' exactlky was the topic of the debate. The Indian Government's legislation seeks to combat abuse of the service and abuse of the surrogate mothers.
Also, it should be "It has been debated IN the Indian parliament..." or "It has been debated BY the Indian Government...".
By fair means, I believe the leading reason why foreigners choose India as their surrogates to bear their babies is because the procedure is a lot cheaper than in their own countries. We all know India befall the second most-populated country in the world, following U.S. as the number one. Therefore, a lot of people don't get enough good facilities supporting their life. Most of them don't get a maximum education and health facilities, and that can lead to why they don't get a good job with fine salaries to pay their daily needs. That's one of the reasons why women in India choose to bear nine months just to give their babies into the arms of strangers in exchange of money. Another reason, their people also tend to fulfill their sexual desire which finally ended up with unwanted unborn children. Rather than take responsibility, they give their babies to couple who couldn't get pregnant. In my opinion, the surrogates have good intentions in helping couples across the world, and they should keep doing it but with just in small number of it. As for the government, it would be the finest idea if they make some rules to stricken their people regarding the case. Also, just an idea to reduce the number of the foreigners which desired a child from India women, it would be better if we make the procedure in India has the same price as the procedure in other countries. As a result, that India woman and some of their other people can manage to get a better life.
ReplyDeleteAzani wrote: "We all know India befall the second most-populated country in the world, following U.S. as the number one."
Delete"Befall"?
It's true that India is the second most populated country in the world but the most populated one is China. India has 1,296,834,042 people and China has 1,384,688,986. The population of India is predicted to exceed China's in 2015. The U.S. is the third most populated country (not "the number one" as you said) with far less people: 329,256,465.
We all know that India is a huge country which its population placed as the second largest in the world. With such a huge population, Indian people tend to have deficiency in food and resources. Other fact is that we cannot resist that most women have a dream to build their own family, and also, not all women are gifted with enough fertility to have their own child. With this two facts combined, in my opinion, it is okay for Indian women to be a hired surrogator mother. Because, Indian women who agreed to become a surrogator mother definitely has their own reason, which most are because of the money that they need to run their life. This is a win - win solution for both side since the surrogator mother got the money they need to have a better life, and the actual mother that got their child through this system. What should be paid under more attention is the whole journey of the surrogate from the start. It should be concerned under the law that the surrogate runs through safety for both the surrogator mother and the baby that will be born.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I don’t agree with commercial surrogacy in the first place because there are a lot of orphan can be help by people that can’t have baby. But I won’t deny that commercial surrogacy does help a lot to poor people that may still struggle with their daily life. After reading this article, I believe that India already in the right path to have better law about surrogacy. India is well known to be the cheapest place and major destination for foreign medical tourists seeking surrogates. This become a big reason for many unregulated fertility clinics to sprouting everywhere in the country. These unregulated fertility clinics may treat the women hired as surrogates poorly and may endanger their life. This will lead to become massive women exploitation for commercial gains. Other thing that I worry is the possibility that the baby born from the surrogacy being abandon by their real parents if the babies unwanted or born with disabilities.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason behind surrogacy is a malformation of the womb, infertility couple, and the couple having same-sex and why they choose India? because they do not need to undergo endless legal formalities in India the cost of surrogacy in India is far less as compared to other countries in the world. In my opinion, It emerges to be the safest and effective way of giving endless and everlasting happiness or bliss for thousands of couples who are gladly and happily running families of their own. There are documents which are signed between the intended parents and the surrogate mother. Then, the contract ensures that the baby stands out to be the legitimate child of the intended couples. Surrogacy gives you enough reasons to spend your life joyfully. In this way, no one can prove to be a hindrance for you in creating your family and thus accomplishing your dreams forever before.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I find the title of the article very confusing as, according to the rest of the article, the Indian government wants to “limit surrogacy to Indian couples who have been married for more than five years” and, even in that case, “a family member must serve as the surrogate”. So, basically, the Indian government wants to stop the business of surrogacy and not only “foreigners paying women to have babies” as stated in the title.
ReplyDeleteApart from that, I think that surrogacy is like asking a woman to sell you her baby, which is not very ethical, therefore, it should not be a business. I think that renting her body can be very difficult for a woman and have big psychological consequences. I understand that a lot of couples may have fertility issues, but I think that other solutions should be preferred, like adoption. Furthermore, this would avoid for children born with disabilities to be abandoned.
Lisa wrote: "First of all, I find the title of the article very confusing as, according to the rest of the article, the Indian government wants to “limit surrogacy to Indian couples who have been married for more than five years” and, even in that case, “a family member must serve as the surrogate”. So, basically, the Indian government wants to stop the business of surrogacy and not only “foreigners paying women to have babies” as stated in the title."
DeleteThis is a good point. I think the explanation for this disconnect is that the article is from CNN and it is looking at it from the "foreigners'" point of view - by which I mean the American one. I think the headline is designed to attract their attention. Without the American angle, perhaps CNN could not interest its audience enough with a story that's only about poor people in a faraway country.
In this case, I don’t agree with the Indian government that wanted to ban the surrogacy for Indian couples. It is a wrong decision because most of the Indians earn their livings from the surrogacy and it will increase the poor people population in India. On the other hand, a lot of people agrees with the banning of surrogacy people thing this type of activity as a “Baby Factory” and also it is bad for people that failed to care about the babies for 9 months because the expectation of foreigners that the surrogacy will be succeed. The fact that we know is that the surrogate mother besides they need some money they also wanted to help the people that cannot have child. For more information, surrogacy can be taken from the surrogate mother eggs or can be moved from the egg from the mother that don’t want to feel the hurt of pregnancy. So we should erase peoples mind that used to be called baby factory.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the video , i have to say that i disagree wit the goverment’s decision of limiting surrogacy. I disagree because i believe that surrogacy is something personal and that it’s each individual’s choice to make. I believe that surrogacy is beneficial for both sides namely the client or foreigner and the surrogate mothers . Foreign clients hire surrogate mothers for a reason. It may be because the woman can’t bear her own baby or infertile or maybe the women doesn’t want to undergo the process of pregnancy which is a burden and painful. This problem can however be solved through this commercial surrogacy bussiness. It’s actually like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Aside from solving the client’s problem of wanting to have a child it can also help with the living conditions of the surrogate mothers. As you know India’s population is very high unlike the avaibility of jobs. This causes a high number of unemployment causing lots of families in India t livein poverty. By being a surrogate mother the volunteer can receive about $5000-$7000 which is more than enough to improve living conditions and even enough to buy a house to live in. After watching the video i can infer that the surrogate mothers are doing it voluntarily without being forced and that they don’t feel exploited in any way. So to sum it all up i think that the surrogacy commercial business shouldn't be limited as it can help reduce poverty in India.
ReplyDeleteI think India should not ban surrogacy services. I think surrogacy services benefit both sides, the Indian women and the people, especially foreigners, who hire them. I think everyone should have the right of having children. Since some couples do not have the privileges of having a child, sometimes because of biological reasons, they would require surrogacy services. And, India offers the service with reasonable price. I agree that India should make a law to prevent the exploitation of the women hired as surrogates. However, I don’t think the Indian government should ban the service completely. I think a lot of lives would be affected negatively. And I imagine a lot of protests will rise to defy the government’s decision to ban the surrogacy services in India. I know the government wants to protect the Indian women, but I think it’s also their choice to provide these kinds of services. They should know the risks too. I think if the government doesn’t ban the services completely, and make a law to prevent the exploitation of the women instead, a lot of people would be really grateful.
ReplyDeleteI think this kind of stuff is very inappropriate. Like we can see from above, surrogacoes using women as an object to raise baby. The womb of a woman is rented to people that want baby but maybe they cannot have one because of some reasons. Yes, maybe the money that women get from renting their womb is quite a lot. But, it's just not right. In this kind of thing, it assumes women as a tool, not as a person. But besides that percrption, there's also some positive effects from this. It benefits both sides, the women and the foreigner. The women are happy because they get a lot of money. We all know that it's not cheap to rent a womb of a woman. Also, every people have a right to has a baby. Every couple does. Sometimes they will do anything to have a baby, even though they have to pay a lot of money, if they can't do it naturally.
ReplyDeleteThe video clearly shows that the Indian surrogate mothers have no problem with doing this procedure. They receive quite a lot of money to add to their original profit which may not be that many, and this can really help them with improving their living conditions. They also feel like they are helping families who are not able to have their own baby due to different reasons. This means that these women don’t feel exploited or forced to do surrogacy, so I don’t see the point of banning this procedure. Other than that, surrogacy benefits both the mother and the family, and this procedure has been quite popular amongst different types of families who have their own reasons as to why they can’t have a baby naturally. So, banning surrogacy in India might cause a huge impact to the families from other countries. And let’s not forget the protests that might come from the Indian women who may feel like their chances of a higher profit and their benefits are taken away by the government banning surrogacy.
ReplyDeleteAt first, I was kind of weirded out by the fact that surrogacy costs very low in India compared to its price in the United States. It is rather an issue on humanity than currency. Although the Indian surrogates seems to be just fine being paid as much, I think they should be given more attention than they had received.
ReplyDeleteMoving on to the next problem, I think the surrogacy law should not end or freeze the surrogacy business since it really benefits both the surrogate mother and the donor family. First of all, the business enables the surrogate mothers to provide for their real families. They are able to build houses that they had never even imagined they could afford before. It is also seen as a normal job and they do not feel exploited at all. Next, the donor families are also benefited because of the low price. It is true that there are people that are not as lucky to have relatives that can carry their baby for them. Because of this, the surrogate also feels happy to help them.
We know from the article that commercial surrogacy in India is a common thing and was also legalized in India in 2002. The high cost of surrogacy forced people to seek a lower cost to do surrogacy and India have attracted surrogacy clients from countries. Usually, a woman who’s unable to have children or gay couples hire surrogates. Women in India serve as a surrogate to help someone make a family, also they need the money to make a living. In my opinion, it is not wrong if the surrogates agree to do it, thus they also need the money and it advantage the family because they get what they want, which is a child. But the way these women are treated is not right and they shouldn’t be abused by anyone because it’s the matter of human rights. The Indian government should make rules regarding surrogacy before it gets worse than it is now. Surrogates should be protected and not abused because they already done their job so there is no reason to abuse them.
ReplyDeleteI think there is nothing wrong with Indian women being the surrogate mother. Dictionary state that a surrogate mother is a woman who bears a child on behalf of another woman, either from her own egg fertilized by the other woman's partner or from the implantation in her uterus of a fertilized egg from the other woman. If we look at it from the perspective of a woman who can’t have children, this would be something memorable for them since, they could experience pregnancy. On the other hand, this may boost the family economy. For one baby, they would be paid around $5000 till $7000 even though it’s not as much as surrogate mothers in US, this could be a solution for Indian woman who found difficulties in finding a job with the degree that they have. I think the government should improve the system by increasing the amount of money being paid towards these surrogate mothers. The greater the money, the greater the chance that more woman would join, India would be a step further from poverty.
ReplyDeleteMy personal view on this topic is that the banning of “fertility services” in India would do more harm than good, as high demand for the service would just facilitate the rise of a black market for surrogate mothers. If the market for surrogate mothers goes underground, my fear is that the mothers would suffer more abuse and would be forced to give birth in more dangerous conditions. In other words, I agree with the advocates’ view that it is better for the Indian government to implement more regulations and increase supervision of the practice instead of banning it outright. Philosophically, I also believe that a woman has the right to her own body, so I don’t really mind if she rents her womb out for money (given that it is consensual). Moreover, the economic condition of India means that it could sometimes be justifiable for desperate women to rent their womb, given that they can’t find any more alternatives to gain money for their families.
ReplyDeleteSurrogacy, it is a controversial topics eversince it has been legal in 2002. Some people see it as an exploitation by foreigners because of the low cost offered for being a surrogate in India. Yet, some also sees this as an opportunity for incapable couple to have a complete family. Yes it can be argued that the fare offered in India is considered very low when compared to the US which is said to be 10 times more expensive. This can be seen either as an opportunity or an exploitation based on your prespective. We can’t really state that this is underpaid just considering the amount of money given to do surrogacy in India. We also had to compare how the economy is in the country, the average household earning’s, the number of unemployment, number of low-skilled worker, and so on. In my point of view, as long as the surrogate is doing it without being obligated by someone, being a surrogate should be allowed. It is their own rights to choose what they want to do since it doesn’t bring harm to others. Because, based in their testimony, most of them feels that they have done good things both for the family of the people who can’t have a child themselves and their own family. But, a more safety procedure and regulation might be needed to fulfill the safety standards for these surrogates.
ReplyDeleteCommoditised surrogacy offers a lot of opportunities for people that have difficulties in conceiving a child. However, the practice is somewhat considered as unethical, due to the fact that money is heavily involved in a supposedly sacred thing to most people; having a baby. As a result of apparent poverty in India, more and more women are being exploited by the vile and notorious industry, with the aid of local doctors, clinics, and hospitals. The seemingly mouth-watering amount being paid to Indian surrogate mothers are surely still far off from surrogate mothers in the United States that could rack up around $25,000, compared to $3,000 to $7,000 the Indian surrogate mothers usually receive. The surrogate mothers of India are not aware of the blatant exploitation, which makes India’s Foreign Minister, Sushma Swaraj, reacts by proposing a law to prevent foreigners and gay couples in conceiving a surrogated child from Indian mothers. For me personally, Ms. Swaraj has totally lost the plot regarding the issue. What is more important than to ban surrogacy is to educate more women on what impacts could surrogacy bring to each and every single person there is in the country, with more emphasis to guide women in knowing the practice. This will raise the awareness of women in India so that irresponsible parties would exploit less of them.
ReplyDeleteAfter I read the article, I do agree with some of the comments above.Although it is debatable, but I do believe that India Government should make a regulation to prevent exploitation towards the Indian women who work as a surrogate mother. In my opinion, a legal surrogacy could be benefiting towards both participants : the surrogate mother and the biological parents. Although the cost of surrogacy in India is quite low compared to the cost of surrogacy in the US, but with that amount of money, an Indian mother could afford a lot of things to fulfil her family daily needs. So, I think making a proper regulation about surrogacy could be more acceptable to the people, than to ban the activities entirely. I also think that the Indian government should also do a regular supervision towards the infertility clinics or hospitals, to prevent abuse or exploitation towards the surrogate mothers.
ReplyDeleteFor me I think india governments should limiting this surrogacy for the sake of indian women because they didn’t realize that they are risking their life for small amount of money, eventhough poor background became their reasons to do this such thing, but personally I think theres a lot of job out there to find without risking indian women life, and for me if a couple can’t make a baby the should choose their relatives to be their womb instead of choosing indian women, and for those couples out there seeking for a baby, theres a another way rather than find surrogacy which is adopt a baby or a child from orphanage, this decision can change our society because if a couples adopted an orphan children they save orphan future, because most of the time when an orphan children become teenagers from an orphanage they tend to have a rough future instead of having a good education.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, as a man and citizen of the world, women that does this kind of job for their life is a strong women that wants to support their life. They have to make a living, and at the same time this kind of job offers much more money than the hard work they have to do to make that amount of money. Country like India, who placed as the second largest citizenship country in the world, and also one of the country that has weak economy, surely affect their citizens quality of life. Making money in this country definitely not an easy thing, therefore, when there is this kind of chance for women to make some money, they don’t have any choice but to accept it. This is also a benefit for the family that hire Indians as their surrogate mother for their future child. Families like this definitely want a child so bad that they are willing to give everything. So, in my opinion, what Indian government have to do is to not ban this kind of activities, but to make sure that this activities is save for both surrogate mother and the baby’s family. Making sure that this is safe could be through some rules or just simply educate people that involves in this activity to have a good facilitator (hospital and doctor) that guarantees the safety of the surrogate mothers and their babies.
ReplyDeleteThe surrogacy business happening in India is actually quite beneficial for many couples that actually want to have a child or children, be it couples who are unable to bear children or gay couples. I actually support this business but the thing I don’t support is however the abuse of those surrogates is done and how women are exploited as surrogates to carry children. I have no personal issues if the surrogates themselves have no problem carrying someone else’s child but if there is no consent and these women are forced to do so, then that act would be a terrible crime to do. I think it would be wise for the government to ban some businesses who operate their business illegally or forcefully on the women, but I think there should be a regulation on how many times each women are allowed to carry children or what age are women allowed to carry these children to regulate the amount of surrogacies in the country.
ReplyDeleteSurrogacy : a debate between humanitarian and ethical issues. Yes, surrogacy changes people’s lives, giving chances to those unable to conceive on their own, encounter the hardest, yet most rewarding experience, parenthood. Surrogacy is the only way for couples that are unable to conceive to have a baby of biological ties as some prefers this than adoption and since currently there are no viable choices like artificial womb. On, humanitarian grounds, I believe that surrogacy is a good thing if done legally and according to the procedure. However, the problem in India regarding surrogacy is due to the cheap availability of the service, people from all around the globe are overusing it. Although the practice is approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research as they provide pro-surrogacy guidelines that protected, to an extent, the surrogate mother and the commissioning parents such as prohibiting sex-selective surrogacy, requiring the birth certificate to only have the names of commissioning parents, one of the commissioning parents to be a donor, a life insurance cover for the surrogate mother and ensured right to privacy of the mother and the donor, among other things, surrogacy is not backed up by legislative laws, meaning that the Indian government has not given their legal consent.
ReplyDeleteWith no sufficient enforcement of laws, this leads to the rise in illegal surrogacy businesses, which any rational person would disapprove as it risks the life of both the mother and the baby. On ethical grounds, I do welcome the ban of commercial surrogacy as I think that it’s unethical to build businesses on women’s reproductive capabilities. In India itself, commercial surrogacies are done at a bargain base prices, and this means that the surrogate could actually get more than the amount agreed but are paid less. This is because of the low average wage and thus they thought that the amount offered is something they won’t be able to achieve even if they work for years. Quoting the opinion of some bioethicists, selling pregnancy as a service is unjustifiable because it puts a price on human body parts and life. Commercial surrogacy, results in the devaluation of women and children and the eventual degradation of society. Thus, most ethical method of surrogacy, as already done in Canada and Australia is altruistic surrogacy, removing monetary compensation in the process and the intended parents are usually only other family members and close relatives.
First and foremost, I would like to say that none of this would have happened if the Indian government had strictly enforced their family planning services effectively, especially education being the most important. Through family planning education, there would no longer be a bay that had to separate India’s population’s problems with the regulations that the Indian government had spent countless hours maintaining, as India’s population growth rate would start to decrease bit by bit to a point where the government could allocate their attention on other problems of greater magnitudes. Furthermore, the Indian government would never have to impose such a ban when this surrogacy problem had never existed in the first place, as everyone now had their own main sources of income from morally acceptable jobs. That however, only happens in a different universe. Until India mends its rapid population growth issue, establishing a ban such as prohibiting foreigners from paying Indian women to have babies is both fruitless and morally wrong, as it’s no different than robbing someone’s only means to survive. If you don’t want your drink to leak, you have to securely screw the container beforehand.
ReplyDeleteI believe that there is nothing wrong with Indian women being a surrogate mother. It is their own choice to be a surrogate mother. From my understanding, a surrogate mother is a woman that carries a child for another woman, whether it is from her own egg fertilized by the other woman’s man or it is the a implantation of the other woman’s fertilized egg into her uterus. There are so many women who want to have children but they can’t because of their health condition. I think being a surrogate mother would be amazing because a surrogate mother could make the women, who are not able to have children, happy. In other words, a surrogate mother can make dreams come true. A surrogate mother may also have a positive effect on the family economy. In India, a surrogate mother can get paid for around $5000 to $7000. Although it is not as much as the surrogate mothers in the United States, Indian women still can support their family by doing this. Especially the ones that are difficult to find a job with the education that they have. In my opinion, the government of India should increase the income of a surrogate mother in order to improve the system. Because if the money increases, the number of surrogate mother in India will also increases. This would be a solution for reducing the current poverty state in India.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, India government does not need to apply this new regulation. I don’t see anything wrong with surrogacy, but how they do it illegally and pay the surrogate mother very low is wrong. Surrogacy actually helping a lot of family that want to have children but they can’t and also it can help the surrogate financially. But I do agree that the government have to do something to protect the surrogate mother, maybe they need money for themself or for their family but they have to be respected, like what happened in the fertility clinics describe it as ‘rent-a-womb’ operation must be stopped. The unregulated fertility clinics likely to do the surgery not based on the procedure, which means they can risk the surrogate’s life. The government needs to increase the lowest price for hiring the surrogate and also stop the unregulated fertility clinics, by this foreigner parents who find Indian surrogates because of the cheap price will decrease automatically.
ReplyDeleteLow-class society tends to be uneducated, thus they seek for a job that doesn’t require minimum study qualification. When there is surrogacy: a job that doesn’t need any educational background, but producing a huge amount of money in return, that is where people will go. When Indian women need money and families need surrogacy, they will keep doing it. When there is demand, there will also be supply. The policy of banning surrogacy in India will erase the number of legal surrogacy, but shift women to do it illegally. As a parallel example; how the status quo of Indonesia banning TKI to go abroad. Indonesian jobless need money and international society need the employee, thus Indonesian work abroad illegally. Either it is TKI or surrogacy when done illegally, means there will be no enough supervision from the government. There is no legitimate body that can make sure that the legal system works properly. I think the government of India should face the reality and not banning surrogacy for the sake of safety and supervision to the surrogacy process itself.
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