Surrogacy In India

Little documented evidence exists suggesting that the human rights, physical and psychological health of Indian surrogates are adequately protected and no systematic examination had yet been reported concerning their health and psychological outcomes. Current surrogacy practices in India, makes one question its ethics and morality.
2.1. Surrogacy and Prostitution
Commercial surrogacy paves the way for baby-selling and exploitation of women. In some places, the same rings seem to be involved in prostitution and surrogacy. Scholars have often equated surrogacy with prostitution. In Asia, the same methods are used to recruit young women in the countryside for prostitution and for surrogacy: lure them with the promise of a respectable job, rape

Forced Surrogacy
The most common form of surrogacy and probably the worst is “forced surrogacy”. Just as Corea had anticipated that there would be a time when women will be kidnapped and forced to be surrogates. The intersection between human trafficking and surrogacy has largely been overlooked as women’s bodies are sold internally and on the global marketplace for sex trafficking, and inevitably seems to shift into the surrogacy market.
Studies have shown that Indian surrogate mothers are under enormous pressure from their husband and family , they are often forced to become surrogates and exploited in that role. Surrogacy Agreements in India do not apply the most basic rule of standard form of contract i.e. free consent. Ever contract must be entered into in free consent, without a trace of coercion, undue influence, fraud etc. However, the consent of the surrogate is not at all considered, it is only her husband’s consent that matters in India. This means that even if the husband or her relatives have forced her into surrogacy, it would be perfectly legal. The opinion is different in other countries, for example, Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Being states that if pressure is exerted on the woman by her husband, or if women living in poverty are offered a large sum of money to become a surrogate, that could constitute coercion through the use of force or misuse of a vulnerable position and it would also qualify as human

..This work is not ethical—it’s just something we have to do to survive.” A study conducted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development reported that 46% of surrogates in Delhi and 44% in Mumbai received around INR 3 lakh to INR 4 lakh for their services. Most of these women were working as domestic helps and were poor, illiterate or semi-literate. These women were not given any copy of the written contract, they were not even aware of the clauses contained therein. Besides, most of them had minimal understanding of the medical procedures they had been subjected to. These women are often made to sign documents, in English, which they cannot understand and are kept ‘under lock and key’ until the obligations set forth in the contract are fulfilled. The surrogate mothers are not given a copy of the written contract which is signed between the surrogate mother, the commissioning parents and fertility physicians because of which they are not even aware of the clauses of the