Recent cases in Telangana have raised the issue of commercial surrogacy and the legal and ethical problems posed by it. In the past week, health officials found not one but two fertility clinics in the state in which surrogate mothers—48 in Hyderabad and 87 in Bhongir—had been made to live at the facility while carrying foetuses of couples who had utilised Assisted Reproductive Technology. In the Hyderabad case, it was found that the women were paid a fraction of what the clinic was charging the couples. Health officials, however, have found themselves hamstrung by the lack of legislation to act against the clinics which claim to have their paperwork in order. Meanwhile, the Hyderabad High Court ordered the state to look after the surrogates.
However, while officials find the ‘exploitation’ of these women and the conditions in which they were living—cloistered, cramped—a cause for concern, some of the women in Hyderabad who spoke to the media reiterated that they had embarked on surrogacy of their free will. That they had chosen to become surrogates to provide for their own children. And yet, if the proposed Surrogacy Bill, cleared by the Cabinet, were to be passed by the Parliament, there would be little doubt as to what would happen in these cases. The Bill bans commercial surrogacy, and places restrictions on who can be a parent—no singles, live-in couples or gays. The Bill, while aiming to protect potential surrogates from exploitation, puts limits on the agency of such women and has raised protests from many surrogates for this reason.
The Telangana cases make a few things very clear. There is most definitely a need for regulation on the practice of surrogacy in India. However, there is also a need to listen to potential parents as well as surrogate mothers in understanding that banning commercial surrogacy is not the solution. A legislation that balances the interests of all sections of society is the need of the hour. Not one that essentially throws out the baby with the bathwater.