Monday, December 29, 2008

Economic Turmoil Fuels India's Fertility Business

I recently posted about how patients are canceling their IVF appointments for surrogacy and egg donation in India because of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, but apparently that has not stopped the booming industry in India. In fact, with many women and men getting laid off from their well paying jobs, more educated women than ever before are becoming surrogates and egg donors.

In fact, one woman in the article was at the pharmacy looking to buy poison to kill herself because of her family's desperate financial situation when she saw an advertisement for egg donors. She applied, was accepted and is now receiving income for helping infertile couples who could not have a genetic child without her help. Another woman's husband was laid off and she knew it would be incredibly difficult for her to find employment, so she applied to become a surrogate and is now hoping to become pregnant for an American woman.

I do believe that India is not taking away the surrogacy business from any agency or attorney in this country. Those couples or individuals who are going to India would not have used a surrogate or an egg donor in the United States because they simply cannot afford it. For them, the United States was never an option.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not just affordability that causes U.S. citizens to turn to India for surrogacy. It is also the legal aspects - surrogacy is more straight forward in India with the biological parents names put on the birth certificate.

Stephanie Caballero said...

The parents can also place their names directly on the birth certificate in California, as well as other states, which is why a lot of couples and singles look to California for their surrogacy needs.