US kids are made in India, thanks to surrogacy-Aug 11, 2011

US kids are made in India, thanks to surrogacy

Published: Thursday, Aug 11, 2011, 17:00 IST

By DNA Correspondent | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

Meet 28-year-old S Prabha, a tailor working at a garment factory and a mother of two. Till last year, her life was no different from any woman from a low socio-economic background, toiling hard to make ends meet every day.

About 10 months ago, she decided to rent her womb to a single parent from the US and her life changed for better.

Prabha’s husband is an autorickshaw driver, who hardly earns enough to take care of his family and educate his children. That apart, the family was burdened with a loan of 1.5 lakh.

“A friend who used to donate her eggs through Sristi Charitable Trust informed me about the institution and the procedure of surrogacy. I realised this was one way I could help my family solve the financial crunch,” said Prabha.

A series of tests and counselling sessions finally gave a green signal to Prabha for surrogacy.

Nine months ago, Prabha became a complete surrogate mother for Charles from Kentuck, a single parent and a doctor by profession and delivered a healthy baby boy about a week ago.

While Charles is thrilled with his newly achieved fatherhood, Prabha is happy that she can now pay off the family loan and still have some money on hand.

“This is the first time I took up surrogacy and I don’t intend to undergo the same procedure again. The agency has already paid me a cheque of `2 lakh,” said Prabha.

After performing an IVF procedure on Prabha at Dr Ramesh Hospital Infertility and IVF Centre, she was shifted to an accommodation at Mahalakshmi Layout.

Regular medical check up, good food and a healthy lifestyle kept her fit till delivery, when a C-section was done. While she was away from home for nine long months, her family — a 10-year-old son, an eight-year-old daughter and her husband — was allowed to meet her once a week.

Meanwhile, Charles could interact with her through Skype and even see the ultrasound reports of the baby.

Prabha was the surrogate mother for one of the nine babies delivered at Dr Ramesh Hospital recently. This is the first set of surrogate babies from the city going to the
US and UK within the next fortnight.

At a press conference on ‘Surrogacy: Empowering socio-economically challenged women to become financially independent’ on Wednesday, Dr Ramesh said, “The requirements from Indian couples for surrogacy are increasing. But the demand is more from the US and UK. According to statistics, one in every six women in the US fail to conceive.”

There are two types of surrogacy that can be done today. While in a complete surrogacy, both egg and sperm comes from biological parents or donors and the embryo is implanted in the womb of the surrogate mother, in case of partial surrogacy, the surrogate mother also donates the egg, he explained.

Close on the heels of Gujarat, Bangalore is now developing as a centre of surrogacy in India. However, India is not the only place for surrogacy, said Benhur Samson, CEO, Surrogacy Abroad Inc, an international surrogacy agency based in Chicago.

“Surrogacy is practiced in a handful of countries including Thailand, Ukraine and Argentina. India not just holds a niche market in surrogacy, but the whole concept helps in financially empowering women from poor economic background,” he added.
While a surrogacy can help a woman financially, she is also permitted to meet her surrogate child at any point of time, said Samson.