India Surrogacy Journey

The India surrogacy journey can be said to have actually begun in 2002, when the Supreme Court, the apex court of the country, recognized commercial surrogacy in India as legal, even though India’s first surrogate baby was delivered on June 23rd, 1994.

In the last few years, India has emerged as a leading international destination for surrogacy. Dubbed by many as fertility tourism, India surrogacy is a popular choice for couples from industrialized nations because of the much lower costs involved in ‘renting a womb’.  Statistics indicate that Indian surrogacy clinics handled around 1,500 surrogacy births for domestic and overseas couples in 2010. This indicates a jump of 50 percent in two years.

Rise of India Surrogacy Journey

• The most important reason for India surrogacy as having emerged as a popular choice is the low expenditure involved. India surrogacy clinics charge roughly a third of the price compared to a surrogacy procedure in a western country.
• Indian surrogacy clinics have become more professional in the last few years, not only in the medical procedures involved but also in the hiring of surrogate mothers in India.
• Surrogacy services in India have proved to be more successful than their counterparts in U.S.A and Europe.
  • There are more than a hundred hospitals and clinics in India that provide surrogacy services. Many of these are located in the bigger cities of India, but several of these may also be found in second-tier cities.
  • Surrogacy services in India are the second most common location for gestational surrogacy since the 2007 figures from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology revealed 276 successful gestational surrogate pregnancies in the U.S. and 150 successful gestational pregnancies in India’s clinics.
  • The staff at the surrogacy clinics in India is comfortable in spoken English, which is an added asset for couples who travel to India from western countries.
  • Since women in India are less exposed to drugs, alcohol and smoking, the chances of having a healthy baby through a surrogate mother in India are better.
  • Surrogacy laws in India are much lenient as compared to other countries. In the U.S, most of the states have their own state laws regarding the legality of surrogacy, while in Canada Commercial surrogacy was prohibited in 2004. In Australia, commercial surrogacy is a criminal offence. Even in countries where commercial surrogacy exists, legal entanglements usually make it quite tough for the parents to carry back home the surrogate baby.

Surrogacy Services in India

With the growth of surrogacy services in this Asian country, more and more people are flocking to India to avail the surrogacy services. Here is a quick guide on how to undertake a surrogacy journey in India.

• Visit the surrogacy clinic yourself several times before you take a decision and choose the surrogate mother yourself by going through the profiles. It is better to have access to the clinic yourself, and not operate through an agency.
• Keep in constant contact with the clinic doctor or the gynecologist to keep yourself abreast of the progress of the pregnancy.
• Since your baby will be born in another country with different operation procedures, be prepared to do all the legal paperwork for your child.
• A number of surrogacy guides on the internet will prove to be immensely useful informational guides.

New India Surrogacy Regulations

Before embarking on your surrogacy India journey, you must know about the latest legal regulations for the process. The Union health ministry of India has finalized the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Regulation Bill 2010. Here’s a quick look at some of the revolutionary stipulations

• If a surrogate mother is married, the consent of her spouse is mandatory.
• No ART bank or clinic can send an Indian citizen for surrogacy abroad.
• The donor’s identity cannot be revealed and both parties will have to sign legally-binding surrogacy agreements.
• It allows surrogacy for individuals as well as couples. A couple is defined under the Indian law as two people living together and having a sexual relationship that is legal in the country.

Even though it may take some time before the surrogacy laws are actually put into practice, surrogacy clinics in India continue to attract thousands of visitors to the country every year who visit the country in the hope of achieving parenthood. If you too are keen to start your India surrogacy journey, please fill out the quote request form on the right.