lack of legal provisions and poor payment structure leave women offering themselves for surrogacy- carrying somebody else’s baby in the womb through pregnancy for a price — feeling exploited, physically as well as financially.
Study on surrogate mothers released by Centre for Social Research, funded by Women and Child Development Ministry on Wednesday shows that despite India emerging as a hub for surrogacy, most surrogate mothers are often poorly paid and left uncared for post delivery.
Study findings show that surrogate mothers are paid only one to two per cent of what commissioning parents pay for a baby.
“The commissioning parents pay between Rs 40-45 lakh for a surrogate baby, but these women get barely Rs 2-3 lakh,” said Ranjana Kumari, director, CSR.
According to the study, which surveyed 100 women from Delhi and Mumbai- 46 per cent of respondents in Delhi and 44 per cent in Mumbai said they received Rs 3-4 lakh for surrogacy while 42 per cent in Mumbai and 22 per cent in Delhi got Rs 2-4 lakh. Only 26 per cent in Delhi said they earned above Rs 4 lakh.
“Most women said that they were kept either in hostels or in isolated flats, out of bounds from their own families. In many cases, their health needs were not taken care of. They were treated like baby producing machines,” said Manasi Mishra, head, research team at CSR.
“We have seen cases where the doctors or the middle men billed the commissioning parents for health drinks and supplements but the woman herself denied receiving any,” said Mishra.
Mishra said, in cases of miscarriage, which is a possibility, as surrogacy has a 30 per cent success rate most women were left in the lurch.
“If the woman has a miscarriage she is not taken care of. She loses most part of the money she was promised, which was to come in installments and in some cases because of this financial loss they are ill-treated by their husbands,” Mishra added.
Nearly 74 per cent of surrogate mothers in Delhi and Mumbai said these agents were their primary source of information. “According to estimates, surrogacy is an industry worth $2.3 billion,” said Ranjana Kumari said.
The activists say despite India becoming a hub for surrogacy, with over 40 per cent Non-Resident Indians or foreigners flocking here for surrogate babies there is no law to protect the carrying mothers.
“Despite surrogacy business flourishing, we don’t even know if it is legal or illegal because there is no law,” Ranjani Kumari said. “We are not against surrogacy, but the unregulated commercial nature it has acquired is a serious issue,” she said.