Surrogacy in India

Becoming a parent is the most amazing feeling in the world as the arrival of a child completes the family. But, a lot of couples are deprived of this blessing, which can lead to trauma and difficulty coping up with life. Surrogacy comes to the rescue for such couples and involves an agreement in which a woman agrees to carry a couple’s baby in her womb till delivery. There are two types of surrogacy: gestational or full surrogacy and traditional surrogacy. In gestational surrogacy, the surrogate is inseminated with the intended mother’s egg and donor sperm as a result the infant genetically resembles the intended mother and not the surrogate mother. But, in traditional surrogacy, the surrogate mother is artificially fertilised with the father’s sperm and the child is genetically related to the surrogate mother.

In India, generally women in need agree to become surrogate mothers, but a lot of cases have been reported, where a family member or a friend of the couple who are not having a baby have agreed to carry their child. A few women do it by choice; they consider it as a good cause and do not hesitate to come up for help and carry someone else’s baby in their womb.

As per the guidelines issued by the Indian Council for Medical Research, a surrogacy arrangement must include life insurance cover for the surrogate mother and financial support. According to reports, a lot of foreign couples come to India for bearing a surrogate child. However, the Indian government recently called for a ban and has issued measures to limit international surrogacy. The limitation is a result of commercial surrogacy leading to human trafficking and the exploitation of women. Though, international surrogacy has provided a lot of economic help to the country.

Adopting the surrogacy procedure involves pre-surrogacy legal counselling, wherein the intended parents and the woman who has agreed to lend her womb are counselled about the pros and cons of the procedure. Like any normal pregnancy, a surrogate mother might also face high blood pressure, gestational diabetes and preterm labour among others. Also, the child is at risk of premature birth and low birth weight. In addition, the surrogate mother is likely to face emotional stress and depression post delivery. Therefore, all the measures must be taken into account while opting for surrogacy.

Surrogacy is legal and has been of help to hundreds of couples across the world that cannot have children due to multiple miscarriage or infertility.

Source : Health Daily Digest (via Syndication)

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