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India Begins Scaling Back Commercial Surrogacy

Women in India have become surrogates for years in order to help their families. In fact, thousands of poor Indian women have found work as surrogate mothers, helping to turn this country into a favored destination for foreign couples that can’t become pregnant on their own.

We even posted about their situations in our previous blog post from last year in response to the release of a Vice Episode detailing the dark side of Surrogacy in India.

However, this is all about to change. According to the LA Times,

Now India’s government is taking the first significant steps to rein in commercial surrogacy, citing fears that the women are being exploited by a mushrooming industry that pays them a fraction of what surrogates earn in the West.

In October, authorities barred foreign couples from hiring Indian surrogates, following an earlier ban prohibiting single people and gays from contracting with Indian surrogates. The government has proposed a law allowing surrogacy only for married Indian couples, or those recognized by the government as being of Indian origin.

Whether or not this reaction to the growing surrogacy industry in India will solve the many issues involving coercion and lack of education is up for debate. Either way this may be a step in the right direction. Most importantly, this story is a warning for parents who have considered India as their surrogacy destination.