Rent-a-womb industry thrives in Gurgaon

Sumedha Sharma in Gurgaon

A motley group of bulged-belly women crowds a low-key, 4-bedroom flat on Sohna road. Soon, you can see 20 of them with a handful of toddlers watching a movie. These women have their tales: how they have come to rent their womb in exchange for a better life.

Surrogacy hostels are the latest trend in Gurgaon. Surrogacy experts say over 20 hostels have cropped up over the years in the city and adjoining Manesar and Sohna. Some unofficial surveys say Gurgaon chips in for over 60% of wombs-for-hire pool in India. The unofficial estimate of Gurgaon surrogacy industry is Rs 100 crore, which includes revenue from medical tourists. Rapid industrialization has lead to a boost in surrogacy owing to poor social and financial status of the labour force. Udyog Vihar, Manesar, Bhiwadi, Bawal and Dharuhera are the biggest providers for surrogate mothers.

The industry works in a corporate-like fashion with an organized set-up to tap probable surrogates connect with in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics arrange for surrogacy hostels and negotiating terms of contracts.

A 2012 study by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said the size of India's surrogate motherhood industry was Rs 200 crore a year.

“We lived in Assam but the recent floods destroyed everything. We were homeless. On a friend's suggestion we came to Gurgaon for work. A coworker's wife told me about surrogacy. It took me two sleepless nights to say a reluctant yes to it. After eight months, I feel it is the best decision I ever made. I will get money to get back my life,” says Mandakini (27).

And when the term of Jyoti (24) ends next month, not only will she have an arrangement for funding education of her child, but will also have the satisfaction of having helped some one out. She says she is surrogating for a rich executive who vouches for her. The executive, Anishta (name changed on request), had her own tale: “I was dying to have a baby and went for IVF but suffered miscarriages 8 times. After I met Jyoti along with her child, I made up my mind. The money that she demanded would barely cover my cost for a 15-day vacation, but it would be enough to secure her child's future. You can say that one mother is giving birth while another is giving life.” 

Then there is a 60-something couple. The man from Bhiwani announces his son's first birthday. “Two years back I lost my young son in an accident. He was our only child and heir. We tried adoption, but failed. We were on the verge of suicide when a farm labourer gave us the 'surrogacy' idea. That's how I came here and met Radha,” says Kaahar Singh (name changed), a rich farmer.

“Surrogacy is being misused. Couples say they provide better life for surrogate mothers and their family, but the truth is that most surrogates come from illiterate and poor sections who hardly know their rights. They get peanuts while middle men and some clinics earn huge amounts,” says Dr Pushpa Bishnoi, CMO Gurgaon.

“We all agree on the need for a regulatory authority. But the current law will aggravate the problems. There are women who are being misused or harassed by some unregistered agents. But in the case of registered IVF clinics and facilities or surrogacy centres, harassment is out of the question as we have legal contracts. A blanket ban may make surrogacy a grey market,” says Dr Rachna Vashisht, IVF expert and surrogacy consultant.

According to a survey by the Centre for Social Research (CSR) 92% of the surrogates in Delhi NCR including Gurgaon did not even have a copy of the contract and only 27% of the clinics in Delhi and 11.4% in Mumbai were party to the contract. Most of surrogate mothers in Delhi and Mumbai did not know the terms of their contract.

Dr Shivani Sachdev Gour, secretary, Indian Society for Third Party Assisted Reproduction (Instar) said, “We feel the new restrictions are too binding. You have to understand that surrogacy needs a more humane approach and more individual, case-by-case attention.”

Surrogacy expert Bajrang Sahran says surrogacy today is a symbiotic relationship that connects people in need. “It's about connecting a poor woman in dire need of money with a couple desperately wanting to have a child of their own. As criticism pours in for the government's decision to ban commercial surrogacy, it is a regulatory framework that many are demanding.”

In many cases, things boil down to poverty. “My womb is my choice: I earn Rs 6,000 a month. I don't want my two daughters to be housemaid like me. Tell me what I should do?” says 29-year-old Rijuta. 

How about maternal attachment? “We are adults, and this is not a Bollywood movie,” says a surrogate mother.