Does Bollywood, Set trends to boost IVF-Surrogacy Fertility Industry

Every time babies born through surrogacy are in news; After Aamir Khan, Bollywood megastar Shahrukh Khan is all set to become a father for the third time having through a baby via Surrogacy.  We thank to the Khans of Bollywood; the growing fertility industry is happy. It is time for the industry to attract more couples and medical tourists from Europe and America as well as local would be parents. Incongruously, it was his arch-rival Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao who made headlines by declaring they were having a baby through in-vitro fertilisation or IVF which went a long way in making these topics mainstream and getting rid of the taboo attached to it.

"Surrogacy is slowly becoming a popular trend in India. Top quality equipment, favorable pricing and a hassle-free 'legal' process has made it ideal for couples who fail to conceive naturally," says Dr Neeraj Pahlajani, Senior IVF Consultant at Pahlajani Surrogacy India.

“The incidence of infertility is much more prevalent than what we would like to believe. Up to one in six couples have difficulties in conceiving and many seek medical advice and treatment. But bells of joy are ringing in the life of many such couples, thanks to increasing awareness about Assisted Reproductive Technologies. Procreation is the greatest, most amazing gift of nature. Whether or not one believes in rival theo­ries about origin of life, the arrival of a new-born is always a moment of pure joy. Great civilizations and great cre­ations are the result of the urge to leave the best for posterity. And posterity is what most humans are engaged in cre­ating.

Human reproduction is a complex sci­ence of union of chromosomes but it all begins with a union of two individ­uals of opposite sex with that specific purpose - procreation. Our huge pop­ulation might suggest otherwise but the fact remains that reproduction still remains one of the most serious prob­lems faced by our people. For those who are physically and physiologically normal, having a biological offspring of their own is just about as natural as any other activity but for those who face difficulty in having a child of their own, the disappointment and trauma are unimaginable.

But thanks to new, emerging tech­niques in human biology- particularly reproductive biology - it is now possi­ble for all those unhappy couples to get a little bundle of joy they can call their own child. Practices of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) have brought about a much-needed revolu­tion in human biology that has helped bring in happiness to hundreds of thousands of households around the world, but also helped the society get over the unfortunate stigma associ­ated with childlessness. The subject has been prohibited in the media and entertainment industry with the 2001 film Filhaal being the only serious attempt to focus attention on the issue. However, a string of recent events have not only brought the subject of assisted repro­duction out into the open for public discussion, but also revealed the ex­tent of the problem of infertility.

Infertility affects approximately 13-14% of reproductive-aged couples. It is defined as the inability to conceive after one year of properly timed, un­protected intercourse. This definition is based on the cumulative probability of pregnancy. If a woman in the reproductive age group and her partner have been trying to have a baby for at least one year with­out success, there are many tests, which can be done to find out the reasons why. If the cause of your infertility has not been investigated previously, the clinic will carry out the necessary tests. These tests may include an analysis of the man's semen and the conditions of the woman's uterus, fallopian tubes and cervical mucus.

While some patients will need only advice others may need drug therapy or surgery. But some may need counseling to go in for assisted re­productive techniques. The possible treatments of infertility include drug therapy; surgery to im­prove blocked or damages fallopian tubes; intra-uterine insemination using the husband's sperm; insemina­tion using donor sperm if the husband or partner has no sperm or very poor perm or risks passing on an inherited disease, in-vitro fertilization (IVF); egg donation with IVF; embryo donation and a few other techniques. An increasing number of women aged above 35 years, especially profession­als and upwardly mobile, are now re­ported to be opting for having children through IVF technique.

Experts suggest that late marriages, ca­reer priorities and finance are the key reasons for this trend. National Registry of Assisted Repro­duction in India, which main­tains records of all in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedures in India, reveal that the number of women seeking test-tube babies has more than doubled since 2005. Doctors say that nearly 60% of patients above 40 have difficulty in conceiving naturally. The delay in opting for preg­nancy can be attributed to various rea­sons such as late marriage, career priorities and financial security. And due to awareness of procedures like IVF, women in their late 30s wanting a baby are more open to approaching doctors.

In Raipur - Chhattisgarh, the Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Centre does 150-200 IVF procedures annually, of which more than 50% are for women over 35. Most of these women are in the middle class, upper middle class, and high society, includ­ing many career women trying to beat the biological clock.

In National and International Arena

Celebrity endorsement of ART may be a recent happening in India, but in the west, it has always been a subject that captured public imagination. A host of celebrities have admitted without hes­itation about their reasons for turning to surrogacy. Hollywood actress Jen­nifer Lopez is reported to have gone in for Assisted Reproductive Technology at the age of 38; Other Hollywood celebrities included Emma Thomp­son, Courtney Cox and Celine Dion. A recent example is that of Hollywood actress Elizabeth Banks has a ten-month-old son through surrogacy and combines work as an actress with her new role as a mother.

Back to Bollywood again, assisted reproduction has become much talked-about because of a series of developments. First it was the birth of a child to film director Farah Khan who had been very open about the IVF procedure she chose to have a child. "I wanted to have chil­dren at a particular time and I had to choose IVF for it," she has said on record.

In December 2011, actor Aamir Khan announced the birth of a baby boy through surrogacy. His wife Kiran had a serious problem because of which she had problems in child birth. She had been advised IVF with the help of a surrogate, and this led to the accomplishment of having a son for her and Aamir. In the letter that Aamir and wife Kiran released to the media they thanked mir­acles of science and read: "This baby is especially dear to us because he was born to us after a long wait and some difficulty." It added that because of some complications, "we were advised to have a baby through IVF-surrogacy, and we feel very grateful to the Almighty that all has gone well."

Hopefully, this will take away the stigma attached to IVF in general and surro­gacy in particular, and more and more couples aspiring for parenthood will us surrogates to help them complete their family. IVF specialists hope that more and more couples shed their fears and come forward to fulfill their hopes of parenthood. However, some experts point out that if surrogacy gains popularity then it may become more acceptable as a method of family building and many-other infertile couples will follow blindly therefore misusing or overus­ing this technique. Due to lack of a proper law on surrogacy, the process remains a grey area. Presently, guide­lines formulated by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2005 are used for surrogacy cases. The latest development to clear the air about ART was the film Vicky Donor. Sperm donation laws vary all over the world, for example a single woman in India is allowed ART but it is illegal in various countries, so interested couples might travel to India where it is legal. Films -in India and elsewhere - have always played a crucial role in spread­ing awareness about social issues and problems. Right since the days when to interpretation of previously unthinkable subjects, films and tel­evision have helped in forming of pub­lic opinions. Hopefully, ART will be more widely acceptable now.