In an attempt to purge the stigma of surrogacy, 200 women from 15 States, along with their relatives, husbands, doctors, lawyers and social workers, participated in a walk in the national Capital on Sunday. The walk, organised by Indian Society for Third-Party Assisted Reproduction (INSTAR), raised a finger at the recent report published by the Centre of Social Research which tainted surrogate mothers as disrespected members of the family and those who are looked down upon by society.
According to Dr Shivani Sachdev Gour, General Secretary of INSTAR, the walk was the only way to spread the message among people. “We walked around the Nehru Stadium for an hour. In the walk there were husbands of the women who were surrogate mothers and their families too. This shows that surrogacy is an accepted norm today. These women are not commercial, greedy people. It is completely wrong to taint the deed that actually builds families,” she said. Apart from the walk, there were 25 international videos received from women who have gone through surrogacy.
Mamata Sharma, a mother of two, along with her husband participated in the walk on Sunday. She said, “I’ve been a surrogate mother and nothing has ever given me more happiness. My entire family also knows about it and they are completely supportive. I have two kids of my own, so I know the happiness a child brings into a couple’s life. I’m glad that I could bring this happiness into someone’s life.” Another surrogate mother, Roma Gupta shared that it is not an easy thing to give birth to a child who is not going to be with them. “It takes courage and determination. Today people acknowledge that and our family supports us for it,” she said.
President of INSTAR, Dr Himanshu Bavish added, “We want to tell people that surrogacy is a good thing. Every woman has full family support and is fully aware of what she is doing. Those days where surrogacy was looked down upon are gone. It is social service of an exceptional kind.”