Womb for rent at discounted price

India is the world’s seventh largest and second most populous country for nearly a billion inhabitants. Annual GDP in terms  has the world’s 12th largest economy, however the poverty is very big. Lucky who has regular wages, even if only for 2 dollars per day. Among other things, this is also the reason why flourish the surrogate mothers in India. Women who lend their wombs to foreign women’s ovum, get for about 10 yearly wages during 9 months.

Indian women. Photo by Stephanie Sinclair

City of “the cradle”

Anand is a small town west of India which is one of the poorest municipalities of the country. At the same time extremely well known, there is the world’s most sought-after infertility clinic, the Akanksha Clinic. The most important attraction is none other of it than so-called reproductive tourism. Its success using local women to have foreigner couples’s babies.  In India the Surrogate mother have not been prohibited by law, although the society is morally complain: because many people do not believe that pregnancy can occur without sexual intercourse. The most of these Indian women have to tell a lie to their family. They say they study or work away from home. They hide away in order to avoid the potential shame. Because in many parts of India surrogacy is not understood  and is seen as “dirty” and the infertility is seen as a curse

Pregnant women relaxing in the dormitory of the clinic, where they live. Photo by Fred de Sam Lazaro

A child for 12,000 dollars

In many countries the law allows the surrogate mothers for wage. For example In the USA, in England or in Romania – although only strictly controlled within the limits – there is possibility to ask help of surrogate mothers for women who can’t bear a child. However in the USA many women still prefer the Indian surrogate mothers. It has some reasons. First, the waiting-list is very long because fewer and fewer American women undertake to it and some states allow only the nurse-mothers. And the other hand India is much cheaper. While in the USA an infertile couple have to pay for about 70,000 dollars until in the other side of the world, in India it costs for about 12,000 dollars. But this money is a huge wealth for an Indian women. With this money they can to buy a house, can to finance studies of their own children. Each week for about 4-5 Indian women offer herself to bear a child for European, American or Australian couples. First, the specialists of the Clinic have to make sure that these women voluntarily went there without force of external circumstances. Then they contract with each other. They agree that the surrogate mother hand the baby over to the couple after the childbirth. In addition the Clinic helps for the women to administer the money. They safe the money while the woman likes but they help to manage the bank account as well.

Help or advantage of these women?

India gets a lot of criticism because of the surrogate mothers. Many believe that the couples from developed countries only have an opportunity to take advantage of the Indian women’s poverty because they don’t want to pay higher costs in their own counties. In fact, however this costs really exorbitant in some places for the infertile couples and not every country allows the surrogate mothers.

Written by Ilona Kaszanyi

Tagged Akanksha Clinic, Anand, ovum, surrogate mothers, womb