An issue of mother in law

Surrogacy is reportedly a $499-million industry in India. The Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill aims to protect surrogate mothers in the country and standardise monetary compensation

The proposed Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill and Rules, 2008 (ART) to legalise commercial surrogacy will be submitted to parliament by the end of the year. However, those involved in surrogacy cases feel that merely sanctioning monetary compensation for the surrogate mother is not enough.

Although surrogacy is reportedly a $499 million industry in India and the number of surrogacy cases is believed to have doubled over the last three years, not much has changed in the perception of surrogacy, which remains a hush-hush affair.

When 29-year-old Shanti More (name changed) opted to bear someone else’s baby, she was hoping to buy her own home after being compensated for it. However, the Rs 1.5 lakh she got for being the surrogate mother to a Delhi couple’s child last year did little to make her dream a reality. “I will go through another surrogacy, but this time, I should get at least Rs 5 lakh, so that I can buy a tenement for my family,” the homemaker from Ghatkopar told DNA.

SurrogacyIndia, a surrogacy service provider in Mumbai, has handled about 16 cases of surrogacy over the last year. “We only bring the intended parents (IP) and the surrogate together after both consent to the agreement, but the monetary transaction is between them and we are not involved,” said Dr Yashodhara Mhatre, speaking for the service.

Advocate Amit Karkhanis, who drafted the agreements between the IP and the surrogates, said, “There has to be a minimum amount prescribed in the bill. While the draft ART bill is still open to suggestions and objections, it should be proposed that every surrogate gets a minimum of Rs3 lakh.”

More said she had hoped for monetary compensation, and the amount she received was much lower than her expectations. “I wanted more money, but even more than that, I wanted to give someone the joy of becoming parents. So my monetary expectations had to take a backseat,” she said.

Karkhanis added that if made into legislation, the proposed bill should ensure that the surrogate mother is adequately paid, as she is would be sparing nearly a year of her life to bear somebody else’s child. So far, the compensation amount was given to the surrogate mother under the guise of medical expenses and maintenance, he said, but now, the money can be mentioned in the contract agreement.

Australian accountant Lisa Bussenschutt, 39, and her husband Nikita Romanoff, 35, who have opted for an Indian surrogate mother for their child, voluntarily agreed to pay her $5,000 (above Rs 2 lakh), “We wanted to pay the mother. We want the surrogacy to be a win-win situation. She needs the money and we need our child,” Bussenschutt said, adding that in the US, the cost of surrogacy would be nothing less that $20,000. Moreover, if the surrogate is experienced, the cost goes up to $35,000.

Meanwhile, More says the concept of surrogacy was completely alien to her till a year ago. “I didn’t even know what surrogacy was. I was very apprehensive, as I thought it (conception) was done the traditional way (via sexual intercourse),” she said. More’s friend, whose in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment had failed, asked if she would be willing to be a surrogate mother, after which More met Dr Mhatre of SurrogacyIndia.

“I was explained how IVF transfers are performed and that only the egg would be transferred to my womb. The genes of the baby are that of its intended parents and I am only a carrier,” More, clad in a green and white sari and sporting a red bindi, said.

Her husband, who works in an export company, said, “We did not inform anyone in our family, as they all live in the village.” During the pregnancy, More was put up at a place away from her residence, and from prying neighbours. And at the time of delivery, she moved to Delhi. Although the Mores say they firmly believe what they did was ethical and legal, the surrogacy was kept discreet, owing to its negative social perception in India.

“I am blessed with a son and a daughter and was happy that somebody was going to get to experience having a child because of me,” More said. She added that her 14-year-old son took great care of her through the pregnancy, but she had conditioned herself and her family to accept that the child she was going to bear was someone else’s.

“My children really wanted to see the baby. But the delivery happened in Delhi and I did not bring back a picture of the child because emotional attachment was to be avoided,” she told DNA.

Dr Mhatre explained that during and even after the pregnancy the surrogate mother is counselled not to get emotionally attached to the child, as it increases her chances of going into postpartum depression.
j_mayura@dnaindia.net