海角大神

Dressed in a green surgical gown and cap, British restaurateur Rekha Patel cradled her newborn daughter at the聽Akanksha clinic聽in聽northwestern India聽as her husband Daniel smiled warmly, peering in through a glass door.

"I can't believe we have our own聽child聽at last," said Patel, 42, gazing in wonderment at five-day-old聽Gabrielle.

"We are really grateful to our surrogate聽mother聽who managed to get pregnant and kept our little daughter healthy. She gave nine months of her life to give us a聽child."

It is the perfect promotion for聽India's booming surrogacy industry that sees thousands of infertile couples, many from overseas, hiring local women to carry their embryos through to birth.

But a debate over whether the unregulated industry exploits poor women prompted authorities to draft a law that could make it tougher for foreigners seeking babies made in聽India.

"There is a need to regulate the sector," said Dr. Sudhir Ajja of Surrogacy聽India, a Mumbai-based fertility bank that has produced 295 surrogate babies 鈥� 90 percent for overseas clients and 40 percent for same-sex couples 鈥� since it opened in 2007.

"But if the new law tightens rules as suggested by the ministry of home affairs, which disallows surrogacy for same-sex couples and single parents, then it will clearly impact the industry and put off clients coming from overseas."

BIRTH OF A MARKET

India聽opened up to commercial surrogacy in 2002. It is among just a handful of countries 鈥� including聽Georgia,聽Russia,聽Thailand,聽and聽Ukraine聽鈥� and a few U.S. states where women can be paid to carry another's genetic聽child.

The low-cost technology, skilled doctors, scant bureaucracy, and a plentiful supply of surrogates have made聽India聽a preferred destination for fertility tourism, attracting nationals from Britain, the聽United States,聽Australia,聽and聽Japan, to name a few.

There are no official figures on how large the fertility industry is in聽India. A U.N.-backed study in July 2012 estimated the surrogacy business at more than $400 million a year, with over 3,000 fertility clinics across聽India.

The聽Akanksha clinic聽in聽Anand聽is the best-known at home and abroad, giving the small town in聽Gujarat聽state the reputation as聽India's "surrogacy capital".

"The surrogates in聽Anand聽have become empowered through giving this beautiful gift to others," says Akanksha's owner, IVF specialist聽Nayana Patel, who shot to fame in 2004 after she helped a patient have a baby by using the woman's聽mother聽鈥� the聽child's grandmother 鈥� as a surrogate.

"With the money, they are able to buy a house, educate their聽children聽and even start a small business. These are things they could only dream of before. It's a win-win situation."

Patel, who appeared on U.S. celebrity聽Oprah Winfrey's talk show in 2007, has produced more than 500 surrogate babies 鈥� two-thirds of them for foreigners and people of Indian origin living in over 30 countries.

Charging聽couples like Rekha and Daniel an average of $25,000 to $30,000, a fraction of the cost in the聽United States, Patel pays her surrogates around 400,000 rupees ($6,500).

For 33-year-old Naina Patel, who gave birth to聽Gabrielle, the compensation outweighs the downside. The wife of an auto-rickshaw driver with three daughters of her own, she had to live in a hostel for nine months with 60 other surrogates so the clinic could monitor her health.

Like most surrogates, she kept her pregnancy a secret due to the social stigma in聽India's conservative society.

"I was happy to do it but it was not really out of choice because we needed the money," she said in a hospital bed as she recovered from the Caesarean operation for聽Gabrielle's birth.

"BABY FACTORIES"

India's surrogacy industry is vilified by women's rights groups who say fertility clinics are nothing more than "baby factories" for the rich. In the absence of regulation, they say many poor and uneducated women are lured by agents, hired by clinics, into signing contracts they do not fully understand.

In May last year, surrogate聽mother聽Premila Vaghela, 30, died days after delivering a聽child聽for an American couple at a clinic in聽Gujarat. It was recorded as an "accidental death" by police.

A recent government-funded study of 100 surrogate mothers in聽Delhi聽and Mumbai found there was "no fixed rule" related to compensation and no insurance for post-delivery healthcare. It cited cases where surrogates were implanted with embryos multiple times to raise the chances of success.

"In most of these cases, the surrogate mothers are being exploited," said聽Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research that conducted the study.

Moves to introduce a law 鈥� the Assisted Reproductive Technologies Bill (ART) 鈥� to protect surrogates, the聽children,聽and the commissioning parents is long overdue, Kumari said.

Revised visa requirements introduced in July have already resulted in foreign same-sex couples and individuals being prohibited from surrogacy in聽India. The ART bill, expected to come before parliament next year, will tighten things further.

Under the current draft, all fertility clinics must be registered and monitored by a regulatory authority. Surrogates must be between 21 and 35 years old, they will be provided with insurance and notarised contracts must be signed between the women and the commissioning parents.

"Legislation should be there so that this wonderful procedure can be supervised and it is being done by the right people for the right people," said Akanksha's Patel.

"But more bureaucracy will make it difficult for everyone. It will not only mean less commissioning parents from overseas but it will also impact surrogates, who will lose out on the only chance they have to change their lives for the better."