M
AKE no mistakes abot it, India is not the place to migrateto i yo are a stickler or cleanliness, eciency andstraightorwardness. Yet, or what it is worth, their indomitable spirit and ability toget on with lie in the ace o adversity border on the inspirational.The 26/11 Mmbai attacks was as astonding in the etento the massacre – at least 173 killed and 308 injred – as it wasresonding in the indictment o the city’s inability to ght terror.Then again, in India, when yo can’t ght, yo cope. So jst likethe 2003 and 2006 Mmbai train blasts and a slew o other attacks,Mmbai was p and rnning again in a matter o days.It was a good thing too, or we wold not have been able tocomplete or eldwork abot srrogate mothers in India.O corse we were on tenterhooks fying into a terror-strickenstate so qickly ater sch a large-scale assalt. However, and this isnot rom the benet o hindsight, we somehow elt sae enogh tomake the trip. And so we went, mch to the chagrin o or amiliesand riends.Necessity is the mother o all inventions in India and it seemsthe concept o srrogate mothers is a classic eample o Indianimprovisation as well.They are sally poor womenolk who conceive on behal o another cople in retrn or a sm o money they wold otherwisetake many more years to make. Yo mst nderstand there are notmch career prospects or most o the nedcated women in India.The cost o sch procedres in India is also almost a qartero what clinics in America or Erope charge. Hence, India is astemerging as a poplar destination or childless coples to seek help. Advocates o srrogacy call it a win-win measre. Netralseel it is controversial. Opponents wish the idea was never born atall, deeming it eploitative
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the childless cople may be held toransom, or the destitte srrogate mother may be nderpaid.Scratch the srace, and srrogate mothers will tell o how theneeds o two desperate women are met in sch a transaction
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thebarren gets a baby, the broke gets a bons. And they all live happilyever ater.Dig deeper and the srrogates begin to reveal the trama andtrmoil they eperience beore plnging into what some o themcall the “last decent resort” to pay o debts, by a hose, or save ortheir children’s edcation.Even doctors in India are divided on this isse. There are thoselike Dr Indira Hindja who eel that adoption shold be the way togo or coples nable to conceive. However, most IVF doctors arelike Dr Nayna Patel, who recommends srrogacy with stringentgidelines.Then there are some who take it to another realm, sch as DrGatam Allahbadia, who oers srrogacy options to gay coples.On a personal level, it was diclt to miss how some copleslong to have children. We wold never nderstand what it is like togo throgh 10 ailed ertility treatments like Se did.In her own words, the well-to-do American lady o Koreandescent wold never imagine hersel in a rndown Indian clinic inthe middle o a sleepy and dsty rral village, wiping her tears as shetells her story to rookie jornalists. The physical and psychologicaltrama mst have been immense.Mother Teresa cold not have pt it better: “Even the rich arehngry or love, or being cared or, or being wanted, or havingsomeone to call their own.” We think, even more so the poor. Hence, we present to yo thestory o the srrogate mothers in India, as well as tales rom otherstakeholders in this brgeoning indstry.
First Word
A new mother rests on a bed at the Akanksha Infertility Clinic in Kaival Hospitalafter giving birth a few hours earlier.
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