To Dr Patel’s credit, she ensures safety through a foolproof contract signed between the surrogate mother and the couple. While the surrogate mother promises in writing that she would never contact the child again after birth, the couple agree to cover all the medical expenses of the pregnancy, in addition to paying for the “services”. The surrogate mother usually gets Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.

Dr Patel also ensures that the women coming to her are healthy, in their 30s, of a good background, married with a children or two, and have the consent of their families, especially husbands and mothers-in-law. This is important as the process is long drawn and can involve complications. Sometimes the delivery doesn’t go through in first implantation.

There are also Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines, which say: “A child born through surrogacy must be adopted by genetic (biological) parents unless they can establish through genetic (DNA) fingerprinting that the child is not theirs.”

While seeking that the laws and guidelines regulating surrogacy be friendly for foreigners and NRIs, Dr Patel says: “There should be a clear guideline for a financial contract between a surrogate and the couple. It should be in black and white. Also, according to the present guidelines the couple can request for the medical termination of pregnancy at any point of time. It should be stopped. There should be very compelling reasons for a couple to ask for that.”

Admitting that the absence of laws makes India among the top destinations for couples opting for surrogacy, unlike most European countries as well as the US, Dr Pankaj Desai, the President of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), says: “It is a demand and supply situation. The medical costs here are relatively lower, the expertise at part with any other country and there are no major legal or ethical complications.”

... contd.