Womb is no commodity: Tripurana

Women’s Commission seeks law to regulate surrogacy, says it has become a commercial activity in India

Hyderabad: The State Commission for Women will be holding consultations with women of both Telugu States over ‘Draft Bill’ on Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill 2014, in the first week of November. The proposals would be forwarded to the Centre within a month. Speaking to media persons at the commission’s office here on Wednesday, the chairperson Tripurana Venkataratnam expressed concerns over the alarming growth of surrogacy cases, which she believes violates human rights.

While most of the developed countries and several developing nations completely or partially banned the activity, India continues to be a growing industry. While referring to the United Nations study done in 2012, she held that the Indian surrogacy market had crossed $ 400 million a year. Infertility clinics and its agents in villages continued to lure uneducated women who were unaware of the risks involved in the process, she said. “This is nothing but exploitation of a woman who is ill-informed about surrogacy. While risking her health and family life she gets paltry sum from agents and clinics, which make huge profits,” observed the chairperson.

Venkataratnam, who recently attended the national consultation over the issue, felt that one of the major reasons for women taking up the job of ‘bearing someone else child’ is poverty and illiteracy. “With over 3,000 fertility clinics across India, the States like Gujarat, Maharastra and Delhi have thriving markets. While in Telugu States, the tribal hamlets and remote villages are the target. “Tandas in Warangal and some other districts have become target of this business,” she pointed out.

Stating that surrogacy had become a commercial activity in India, the chairperson demanded enactment of a legislation to regulate the practice. “Surrogacy has become a commercial activity in India. Please don’t treat women’s womb as a commodity. There must be an Act which can regulate the activities of infertility clinics and the surrogacy industry which is concentrating only on earning money,” Tripurana said.

“Let there be an Act to regulate this activity of surrogacy which is exploiting poor women. Those who are interested in having babies through surrogacy, let them have it through their family members and relatives,” she said. “We have to stop this business activity and we are also insisting that if any childless couple is interested in having babies through surrogacy, let their family members come forward who can instead be taken as surrogate mothers rather than women outside,” Tripurana said.

It may be mentioned here that many foreign nationals are coming to India to get surrogacy babies for lesser price. Surrogate mothers are poor and illiterate women, who are Dalits and tribal community members. “In most tribal belts, the agents are going there and recruiting these women to give a baby as a surrogate mother. So, all these factors finally exploit women which is also interlinked to the health of women,” Tripurana said.