Is IVF Painful? Myths and Facts about IVF by Dr. Neeraj Pahlajani

With the advancement of technology in medical science, people are turning to advanced technology for reproduction. One such technology is IVF. But for this process one needs to be educated, there are way too many myths about IVF.  In this article, we will discuss some of the myths and facts associated with IVF. Raipur’s renowned gynecologist Dr. Neeraj Pahlajani has simplified it for us. Firstly let us familiarize ourselves with the myths related to IVF. 

MYTHS

·         One of the common myths about IVF is that it gives a 100% guarantee in the first attempt.

·         Another common myth is that IVF does not require hospitalization.

·         It is often assumed that the entire burden falls upon the woman.

·         If once Conceived naturally the further pregnancy won’t require IVF.

·         Often considered as the last resort treatment.

·         IVF is still considered taboo in modern society.

·         Often taken as a difficult treatment of conception.

·         IVF can affect the immunity of the mother. 

·         Beta HCG report is the final call for pregnancy.

·         IVF is unaffordable and expensive.

·         Cesarean is the only option for delivery.

Now let us educate ourselves with the FACTS about IVF in correlation with the MYTHS mentioned above. 

IVF is not a guaranteed treatment; one does not get the result in the first attempt. With multiple IVF attempts, the cumulative pregnancy rate is very high. Cumulative pregnancy rates can vary from 70-80% to almost guarantee. One must not get depressed after the failure of their first IVF attempt.  One needs to attempt IVF 2-3 times before claiming it to be a failure.

It’s true that IVF doesn’t require hospitalization or surgery, but one needs to be mentally prepared that it takes a lot many frequent visits to the hospital. One needs to be mentally prepared as IVF is a time-consuming process. One needs to adjust their work accordingly, nothing important should fall during this period to avoid unnecessary stress. 

IVF can be stressful not only for the woman but also for the man. The would-be dads are equally involved in the process emotionally and financially. It is suggested that the couple should engage themselves in hobbies of their choice to stay relaxed and comfortable throughout the journey.

We often feel that if our first pregnancy has been natural, the upcoming will be of the same. But in case the tubes have been blocked or because of the acquired diseases the male semen has gone down or due to the advancing age the ovarian reserves have gone down, IVF can prove to be a better treatment in conditions like these. 

During the treatment, due to frequent visits and changes in hormones induced by gonadotropins one may feel emotionally challenged, irritable and sexually charged up. So it shouldn’t surprise you or disturb you if you feel all of this during your IVF treatment.

IVF success is directly related to age especially with the female party. With the increasing age of the female, the ovarian reserves tend to fall short. So the chances of getting pregnant with one’s own egg will keep declining with the advancing age. So one should not think that IVF is the last resort treatment. The success rate depends on many factors. With IVF the chances of multiple pregnancies can be high, however, it can be minimized after consulting your doctor. The success rate with a single embryo can be very less.

IVF is as common as natural pregnancies but is still considered as a taboo. Not everyone wants to tell people that they conceived through IVF or are going through IVF treatment. It is a simple process and one must be acceptable towards it. 

IVF doesn’t affect the health of the mother or the fetus significantly. The only complication involving IVF is ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome that too in the present-day world with the use of technology and advanced drugs and flexible treatment can be rectified. The other complications are similar to what we face during our natural pregnancy.

One should be happy with the positive HCG result but should also prepare themselves mentally for the upcoming pregnancy-related challenges which can be stressful for the couple. 

IVF is pretty affordable in today’s scenario. As far as the finances are concerned most people do not drop the IVF treatment because it is expensive but they get stressed out because of the whole time-consuming process.

IVF pregnancies can deliver vaginally as well. It is often considered that Cesarean delivery is the only option with IVF conception. The delivery of the baby depends on many factors and these factors remain the same for vaginal delivery as well as the Cesarean delivery.

Hope that this article answers most of your IVF related queries. 

Cross Border Surrogacy

Cross-border legal and ethical problems has recently become a concern for Indian surrogacy sector especially after a Thai surrogate mother bore twins and the Australian parents took the healthy child and left the one with Down syndrome behind in Thailand.

Surrogacy is having another woman bear a child for someone else. Surrogacy in India and its increasing popularity has increased the movement of couples towards the country for assistance. However, the thriving business comes with risks of to devious online brokers, questionable private clinics, thriving underground market.

Why cross-border arrangements are risky?

In different countries, laws are different even medical practices, customs or codes of ethics. Looking at the positive aspects of surrogacy, it empowers women to choose whether to participate and gain financial compensation for their valued service. Surrogacy also permits otherwise childless men and women to have children.

In vitro fertilization is fertilization in a laboratory by mixing sperm with eggs surgically removed from an ovary followed by uterine implantation. IVF in Raipur offers assistance to the couples with egg donation, IUI and other fertility techniques.

Most common are two types of “traditional surrogacy” where the surrogate is the biological mother and the sperm is from the intended father or a donor. The other four types are “gestational surrogacy” where the surrogate is unrelated to the baby with the egg coming from the intended mother or donor, and the sperm is from the intended father or donor. When both the egg and sperm are from donors, the baby is genetically unrelated to the surrogate, the intended mother or the intended father. In addition, the actual parentage is often undisclosed or unknown.

Australia and the United States, relevant laws vary by state or province and type of surrogacy. For example, while New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia permit altruistic surrogacy and Arizona, Michigan and Nebraska forbid surrogacy— California, Connecticut and Massachusetts are surrogate-friendly, making them magnets for couples from other places with stringent anti-surrogacy laws.

How to go about surrogacy in India?

Generally, the couples considering surrogacy option are not sure how to go about the process, from where to start or who to consult. They might find it difficult to list down authentic surrogacy clinics from the list of numerous faux and dead links all over the internet which might lead them nowhere. For them, there are few things they should consider before selecting a particular clinic.

1.      Ensure that you establish a direct contact with the doctor and not through any agencies.

2.    Read the success stories of the particular clinic you are considering for surrogacy assistance.

3.    Find out whether the doctor writes blogs for the patients.

4.    Try to resolve your queries and question everything before deciding. (Ask about how surrogate would be arranged? Egg donation process?)

5.     Calculate the cost and compare it with other clinics.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Obstetrician & IVF Specialist

(MS, DNB, FMAS, DRM - Germany)

MBBS - Lady Harding Medical College - New Delhi

MS - Obstetrics and Gynecology (PGI - Rohtak)

DNB - Obstetrics and Gynecology

FMAS - World Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons

DRM - Diploma in Reproductive Medicine (Germany)

Fellow in IVF & Embryology – (USA)

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Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Centre

(Mata Laxmi Nursing Home)

Anupam Nagar, Near T.V. Tower, Raipur (Chhattisgarh) India

Phone:  +91- 771- 4052967, +91- 771- 4053285 Mobile:  +91- 9770997645, +91- 9329630455

Email - contact@raipurivf.com

Visit Our Websites

Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Centre - Raipur

Low Cost IVF India - Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Centre

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How to deal with failed IVF

How to deal with failed IVF

The introduction of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) more than 30 years ago has made parenthood possible for millions who otherwise would never have been able to conceive. When your body says no to in vitro, you at least have options like surrogacy to discover and still have child with your own genes.

It is understandable that an IVF procedure requires an enormous emotional commitment at each level of the program, whether or not IVF is successful. From a personal experience, it was observed when the couples were undergoing IVF in Raipur, failed IVF leaves broken heart.

What if experiencing the failure of your last IVF is the key that begins to end the misconceptions? What if spending time with your tender broken heart can not only help balance your hormones, but can help you heal every other failure you have yet to heal? 

Technical Truths

IVF patients need to be prepared for the fact that about 15-20% of pregnancies miscarry, and the risk of miscarriage after in vitro fertilization is probably the same as for natural conception. The reason the IVF miscarriage rate sometimes appears to be higher is that an IVF pregnancy is diagnosed long before it normally would be in the case of a natural pregnancy.

Most women who conceive on their own do not test themselves for pregnancy until they have missed their period, whereas with IVF the diagnosis of pregnancy is made before the woman misses a period. One should remember, however, that a pregnancy is not confirmed until the presence of a gestational sac has been diagnosed by ultrasound. If this criterion is used to verify pregnancy, then the miscarriage rate with IVF is no greater than that of the population at large.

Ask yourself. You are not a quitter right?

But miscarriage can have a positive side, however. Painful as it is to the couple, the very fact that they conceived at all indicates they are likely to be able to do so again. It is reasonable to expect that although a successful pregnancy was not achieved on the first try, the fact that they could initiate a pregnancy means that their overall chances of having a baby will increase on subsequent IVF attempts.

A failed IVF or a canceled in vitro cycle can be the first step of real healing. Don’t blame it on assisted reproduction for the rest of your fertility journey.

The physical demands of IVF ranging from the annoyance of hormone shots and blood tests to the discomfort of egg retrieval for the woman and the need for the man to produce a semen specimen on demand, all add to the emotional stress associated with the process. 

So, be emotionally prepared and call for support from your family throughout the treatment cycle. It will help both partners cope more effectively with the physical demands on the woman.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Website

http://www.raipurivf.com/

http://www.pahlajanipregnancycare.com/

http://lowcostivfindia.com/

Email

drpahlajaniraipur@gmail.com

Raipur - Steadily Emerging as Fertility Destination

How surrogacy became popular in Chhattisgarh? 

The journey of infertile couples end in Raipur to seek surrogacy assistance after Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Center provided services fertility assistance with in-house embryologist and IVF/ICSI services. With rare combination of state-of-the-art medical infrastructure and potential IVF and surrogacy options in Raipur, it has gradually fueled the international demand. Raipur can be termed as a bastion for couples wanting to ply their gametes at cheaper rates. With low traffic frequency rates, uber medicinal and infrastructural at hospitals, Raipur has become one of the favorite destinations for foreigners wanting to undergo fertility treatment.

Dedicated team of doctors and devoted surrogate mothers attracted more and more couples every year to Raipur for IVF. Slowly but steadily, Raipur has emerged as a destination for fertility tourism. It is among one of the rapidly developing cities in country, the burgeoning idea of medical tourism parallelly has caught the imagination fertility tourists living in geographically dispersed cities towards the state.

It was observed that medical tourists were more liberal than ever for undergoing treatment in Raipur, after several infertile couples from USA, Europe, Africa and even neighboring countries like Bangladesh and Afghanistan came here it to find the cure. Success stories of the IVF and surrogacy in Raipur has put the doubts of couples to rest, who are otherwise skeptical about the treatment because of the obvious complications associated to it. Also, the cheap IVF treatment offered in Raipur has warded off the discomfort of pocket burning fees demanded in the first world countries. Visit counts of tourists tripping Raipur has multiplied in past one decade, with most of them returning with assured pregnancy results. The city has won an international recognition after high ratio of infertile couples was blessed with children.

The day commercial surrogacy was declared legal in India it also opened the flood gates of all the inhibitions related to surrogacy and IVF in the country. After facing a tough rebound from less liberal countries, medical tourism has emerged as a successful intersection of inexpensive and medical infrastructure in Raipur. In years, the city has witnessed high influx of tourists seeking medical care willing to travel the tribal land. Skewed population distribution in metros, and commercialized health care has locomoted the infertile tourists towards Raipur. The infertility hospitals have been able to preserve their appeals for assuring best treatment to patients. A taboo associated with IVF and surrogacy is dying a fast death after Raipur was appended to the list of best known IVF and surrogacy destinations.

Fertility problems can have a devastating emotional impact on couples. Some couples will conceive naturally, in time, but for those who do not, the pain and loss can be immense, and have a sudden and significant negative impact on relationships. Infertility is a multi-layered and complex phenomenon, and a number of issues are involved for the people living with it, as it spans the biological, emotional, physical, social, financial and psychological aspects of lives and relationships. Couples going through the treatment journey can feel stigmatised because of their infertility, that it is still a taboo subject, which makes them feel somehow they have failed.

Their reasons for not having children are varied, often deeply personal – and sometimes, circumstantial. Around 20 per cent of pregnancies end in miscarriage – and yet most women never reveal they have had one. We find out how couples have tried to deal with their grief and meet a pioneering doctor who is looking for solutions to recurrent problems.

Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Center is committed to bring world-class services in assisted reproduction including IVF in Raipur and IVF for Odisha people and other adjoining states. For low cost IVF in Raipur, comparatively higher surrogacy rate Pahlajani IVF Center provides comprehensive services in IUI, IVF-ET, ICSI, Blastocyst, IVF treatment, egg donation, surrogate motherhood, male infertility treatment, semen banking, embryo freezing, sexual psychological problem, PCOS, MESA, PESA, TESA, Hormone Analysis, Laproscopic surgery, Hysteroscopy surgery, laser assisted hatching, and embryo biopsy.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Website

http://www.raipurivf.com/

http://www.pahlajanipregnancycare.com/

http://lowcostivfindia.com/

Email

drpahlajaniraipur@gmail.com

Changes in Surrogacy Tourism in India and Raipur

Commercial surrogacy is a booming industry in India and in recent years ranks of childless foreign couples looking for a low-cost, legally simple route to parenthood have been joined by gay couples and singles.

India was a popular destination for gay couples seeking children till the year 2011 when Indian decriminalised consensual sex between homosexuals.

However, in 2012, the rules were revised and reformulated for foreign couples. It said that foreign couples seeking to enter into a surrogacy arrangement in India must be a "man and woman (who) are duly married and the marriage should be sustained at least two years".

While the government has been pushing the country as a medical tourism destination, the issue of wealthy foreigners paying poor Indians to have babies has raised ethical concerns in many Indian minds. Hundreds of couples visit India every year to undergo IVF in Raipur.

More than 3,000 fertility clinics operate across India, and some can be quite flashy. Surrogacy Laws in India are also undergoing an immense change lately. The Union of India is taking steps to position India as a legally risk-free destination when it comes to international surrogacy arrangements. 

The Indian Government is implementing legal mechanisms to ensure that the child born out of surrogacy arrangement in India would have a safe passage back home. Though such measures have affected few nationals, it could be considered legally safe in the long run for surrogacy in India.

The measures, circulated to Indian missions abroad in late 2012, which only came to light in the Indian media on Friday, mark the first step to the regulation of "surrogacy tourism" in India.

The cost factor has made India a favourite destination for medical tourism, especially the quest for a child. The low cost surrogacy has attracted lot of infertile couples from globe to India. Surrogacy in India is an attractive option for couples who wish to have their names on the birth certificate; want to have a professional or limited relationship with their surrogate, but have the benefit of excellent healthcare. Surrogates in India have no parental rights and cannot change their mind about handing over a child to the intended parents.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Website

http://www.raipurivf.com/

http://www.pahlajanipregnancycare.com/

http://lowcostivfindia.com/

Email

drpahlajaniraipur@gmail.com

Surrogacy and Singles in India

India has issued new rules barring foreign gay couples and single people from using surrogate mothers to become parents in the proposed Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill 2013 that aims to regulate surrogacy in India. The decision has drawn sharp criticism from gay rights advocates and fertility clinics in Raipur.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), according to the guidelines of July 9, 2012, restricted surrogacy to foreign nationals; i.e. a man and a woman married for at least two years would be required to take a medical visa for surrogacy in India. As of now, even though surrogacy is an administrative concern and in the domain of the MoHFW, it has been decided that till the enactment of a law on the ART Bill, 2013, the guidelines issued by the MHA will prevail till then. Hence, foreign single parent surrogacy is barren.

It was in 2012, when the home ministry debarred gay couples and single foreigners from having an Indian surrogate bear their child as only a foreign “man and woman” married at least two years will be granted visas.

Since then, IVF in Raipur and Surrogacy in Raipur is practiced according to the MHA guidelines.

In March 2014, departments and ministries of the Government of India reviewed the drafted Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2013 (ART Bill).

After revision, the decision to restrict surrogacy in India to “infertile Indian married couples” only, was taken with a belief that it would prevent exploitation of Indian women who may be pushed to take the risk of surrogacy in the face of financial hardships.

This decision came after extensive public debate across the country involving all stake holders about the unregulated surrogacy sector in India. According to the guidelines of 2005, there was no legal bar for the use of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) by a single or an unmarried woman, and the child born would have legal rights on the woman or man concerned.

Thereafter, the draft ART Bills of 2008, 2010 and 2013, stated to be revised based on the recommendations of the Ministry of Law and Justice, have consistently proposed that ART in India.

The draft Bill 2013, an exhaustive document containing 100 sections addressing various issues relating to ART. The details are kept ‘secret’.

Restricting surrogacy to infertile Indian married couples only, and debarring all foreigners other than OCIs, PIOs and NRI married couples, is a turnaround in the thought process. The suggestion barring foreigners from commissioning surrogacy in India is stated to be subject to there being no conflict with other Indian laws applicable to foreigners, such as those for adoption. Many singles parents visit every year to Pahlajani IVF Clinic to undergo IVF in Raipur. 

The medical technology, advancement of science permitting free export of frozen embryos and other scientific methods have offered hopes to childless people. But attempts to shut out surrogacy for foreign nationalsand single persons, who have tied their hopes with India doctors and even to seek IVF in Raipur, may not be the ideal way to stamp out the hopes of persons wishing to be a parent.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Websites 

http://www.raipurivf.com/

http://www.pahlajanipregnancycare.com/

http://lowcostivfindia.com/

Email – drpahlajaniraipur@gmail.com

India to Regularise Surrogacy Soon

After rounds of discussion with various ministries, the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill, 2013 has been cleared and will be presented before Union Cabinet during winter session of 2014, confirmed a senior health ministry official on September 22. The decision comes closely after the regularisation and legal framework of Surrogacy in India was debated. The undeniable fact about several illegal ART units cropping up across the country to shortchange the infertile couples gives a reason for the urgent need of passing the bill.

According to V M Katoch, Secretary (Health Research), the bill to regulate Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) is likely to be introduced in winter session of parliament. He said that Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has been going through the draft and presentation of the bill. The news has come as a great relief for patients and doctors as well.

The recent Thailand controversy has brought the infertility clinics across the globe under scanner. Throughout the years, surrogacy in India remained unregulated but the day bill was cleared in cabinet it gave hopes to hundreds and hundreds people in India as well as overseas. It was a time between the years 2008 and 2013, when surrogacy practice in India was questioned under the heads of social and ethical issues.

Considering the fact that growing surrogacy tourism in India and increase in number of patients from overseas to commission surrogacy due to low cost surrogacy in India, the surrogacy sector needed to be regularised. In India, the practice of commercial surrogacy started in the year 2002. Twelve years after the specialists gave birth to thousands of babies through this process, still the controversy about commercialisation denies dying. Surrogacy was commercialised for equal opportunity to surrogate mothers to support their families with the money they get. However, the tales about exploitation of women in the name of surrogacy have grabbed the headlines every now and then. 

With the regularisation of surrogacy, there would be an end to certain illegal practices, which has been tainting the surrogacy practice in India. This signals the efforts of government to safeguard the rights of commissioning parents and surrogates.

Indian Government has also chalked out certain guidelines on surrogacy to make the whole process transparent and allow to hitches. The Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Bill, 2013 seeks to address issues like number of pregnancies allowed to a surrogate mother, age limit and due compensation paid to the surrogates. A framework would be designed for foreigners to seek surrogacy help from India surrogate mothers. With this, the issues of consent and health of surrogate mother would also be resolved.

The Health Ministry has considered the fact that commercial surrogacy changes to biological ability of a woman to reproduce into a commercial activity when money transaction is involved and lack of proper legal framework further complicated the whole process. 

Therefore, an immediate need of strong legal provisions to safeguard the interest of the surrogate mother, commissioning parents and the child born through surrogacy process has been considered.

For more details visit website – www.raipurivf.com

Or email me at drpahlajaniraipur@gmail.com

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Life of Surrogates at Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Center

Referring to one of the news publishing about social activists demanding to ban commercial surrogacy and to regularise it like egg donation. In the article, the data of three states are cited in reference to illiteracy, poverty and unemployment of women, who are mostly unaware of the contract terms and agree to become a surrogate mother mainly for funding the education of their children.

However, the scenario is different for women agreeing to assist infertile couples for surrogacy in Raipur. Although, Chhattisgarh has high women illiteracy rate but women who agree to become surrogate mothers for interfile couples at 

Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Center are given best understanding of the contract to ensure transparency and safeguard of the rights of both surrogate and infertile couple. 

To ensure that a surrogate does not feel exploited, a better understanding of her expectations from the process is taken. Considering that surrogacy is “commercial” in India, the balance in cost of surrogacy in India and remuneration to the surrogate mother is maintained.

At Pahlajani Surrogacy Care, the surrogates are kept under best medical care. They live in an environment of peace and sisterhood under the roof of Pahlajani Surrogacy Home, where they are given best medical assistance.

Indian surrogacy is often targeted about the authenticity of contract signed between commissioning parents and surrogates. The fact cannot be denied that there are several clinics which do not adhere to the provisions of remunerations. However, Pahlajani Surrogacy Care ensures that the rights of a surrogate, who is assisting a childless couple to complete their family.

Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Center is the only center in Chhattisgarh having an in-house embryologist and does not conduct IVF/ICSI in batches. With the number of successes in helping the childless couples in having their babies by providing best medical assistance to both surrogate and commissioning couple, we have climbed another step in the ladder of human connection. Knowing that giving birth for someone else is a job only a selfless human being with most giving heart can perform, Pahlajani Surrogacy Care derives its confidence from surrogates for showing their faith and performing commendable jobs for couples.

Along with the celebration of different festivals with the surrogates, we celebrate Mother’s Day, Women’s Day and even organise plantation drives for surrogates. Surrogates are made to feel like home in our surrogacy homes. The reports about the violation of laws and shortchanging the surrogates are baffling. Rights of surrogates should be safeguarded and they should be given best medical care.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Your First Meeting With Surrogate - What You Need to Ask?

Your first meeting with a woman who would carry your baby for next nine months can be awkward. You might have spent meticulous efforts to form a massive checklist of questions, like:

“Do you smoke?”

“Are you sexually active?”

But these are not the right questions to be asked on first meeting. Don’t worry, your doubts would be cleared after the surrogate’s medical and psychological exams, and you’ll be made aware of them by a professional.

When you sit down face-to-face with a potential gestational carrier, try to empathize with what she’s going through. After a huge amount of deliberation and soul searching, she’s decided to do something incredibly generous, terrifically inconvenient, and more than a tiny bit risky, for a virtual stranger. She is also nervous about the meeting, you need to ease her.

1. Why did you become a surrogate?

Although her weak financial stability might be the reason, but it can never be the only reason. Yes, money is important but with all a surrogate goes through, she’s going to earn that cash, and it is a limited sum. No one’s getting rich as a gestational surrogate, so it’s a safe bet she has bigger motives.

2. What were your other pregnancies like?

You will know all the medical information about the surrogate and her previous pregnancies from her medical examination report. But by asking this question you show some curiosity and empathy towards her. It can be a good start to build a good relationship. By knowing small details about her cravings and small needs, you’ll know just what to put in her care package.

3. How do your friends and family feel about you being a surrogate?

Surrogate mother needs support as it is both physically and emotionally demanding. If you assure her of becoming a good support and appreciate what an amazing thing she’s doing, then she would be happy throughout her pregnancy.

4. Will you be comfortable if we assist you with doctor’s appointments and in delivery room?

Most surrogates will fully anticipate and welcome your participation in the process, but raising the issue in a polite and respectful manner will set the right tone for when those intimate moments inevitably arise.

5. What kind of communication would you like to maintain after the birth?

Some surrogates and intended parents want to stay in close touch. It’s important to reiterate that your surrogate will have no legal rights to your child. Once your baby is born, you are well within your rights to cut off all 

contact with the surrogate and never see her again.

Once your child is old enough to understand how he or she came into the world, they’ll likely be curious about who their surrogate was, so it helps if you’ve kept up the relationship.

6. What are your concerns about us or this process?

You never know what your surrogate may be thinking or how you may come across to her. She might have a special request that’s very important to her or a fear she’s working to get over.

Let her know that her concerns are important to you, and in case she does have a vastly different idea of how the birth should go, it’s better to find out now rather than a trimester or two into the pregnancy.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Why Did Thailand Ban Commercial Surrogacy?

After the abandonment of a surrogate-born baby Gammy with Down’s syndrome by an Australian couple and as a case of nine surrogate babies allegedly with the same Japanese father hogged the limelight, Thailand banned commercial surrogacy on August 6.

Unregulated surrogacy industry flourished in Thailand without any resistance for years before discovery of the nine babies under the care of nannies in Bangkok soon after an Australian couple abandoned their surrogate-born boy with Down’s syndrome, while taking home their healthy twin sisters. For years, Thailand was a go-get destination for infertile couples in the highly unregulated market.

According to the draft, the new law would prohibit commercial surrogacy and those violating the law will face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 baht ($6,200). Agencies, advertisers or recruiters of surrogate mothers will face up to five years in jail and a fine of up to 100,000 baht ($3,100).

The move came after surrogate-born baby Gammy, who is being raised by his surrogate mother in eastern Thailand. The surrogate woman’s allegation that his Australian biological parents took home their healthy daughter and abandoned the blond, brown-eyed boy with Down syndrome and a congenital heart condition sparked outrage worldwide. (Source: www.theguardian.com)

Another equally important snag with surrogacy industry in Thailand is Gender Section IVF. Gender selection is illegal in India, but a growing number of women are finding a way round the ban by going to Thailand where there are no laws against it. Doctors use preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), a method that involves producing embryos through IVF and implanting only those of the desired gender into the womb.

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) enables the identification of genetic diseases in the embryo before pregnancy is established, and eliminates the need for possible pregnancy termination after prenatal diagnosis of a genetically affected fetus. Determining the sex of the embryo to avoid X-linked disorders remains a common indication for PGD, and the vast majority of such cases are carried out using fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) with DNA probes derived from the X and Y chromosomes.

Couples from around the world flock to Thailand for cheap, reliable gender selection treatment. But while half of them from the UK, Australia, Europe and the US are looking to have girls to balance their families, Indian couples have only one motivation as they want male heirs. 

Thailand has 42 clinics and medical institutes and 240 doctors licensed to use assisted reproductive technology. After tightening laws on commercial surrogacy, the gender identification is the major stumbling block to control unregulated surrogacy sector.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani 

10 Must Read Books for Surrogates and Intended Parents

1.  Surrogate Motherhood and the Politics of Reproduction by Susan Markens (NON FICTION)

The book is about the social construction of surrogacy in the United States and debates surrounding two bills on surrogacy in 1992, one in California and one in New York, and at the way the feminist lobby and other factors shaped two very different outcomes. In New York surrogacy was eventually outlawed, while in California it is leniently practiced.

2.  Surrogate Motherhood: International Perspectives by Shelley Day Sclater (NON FICTION)

This edited collection takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of surrogacy, including perspectives from law, psychology, anthropology and social work.

3.  Surrogacy Was the Way: Twenty Intended Mothers Tell Their Stories by Zara Griswold (NON FICTION)

It is a collection of surrogacy journeys of mothers. Women becoming surrogates should read this book as it will be helpful in contracting a surrogate and even to those interested in becoming a surrogate for the insider perspective it provides.

4.  The Baby Business: How Money, Science, and Politics Drive the Commerce of Conception by Debora L. Spar (NON FICTION)

This book gives the facts about commercial surrogacy and some interesting insights into the global market.

5.  Birthing a Mother: The Surrogate Body and the Pregnant Self by Elly Teman (NON FICTION)

Book narrates the personal experiences of surrogates and intended mothers. It breaks many common myths about surrogacy and about relationship between participants in gestational surrogacy arrangements.

6.  Surrogate Motherhood: Conception In The Heart (Institutional Structures of Feeling) by Helena Ragoné (NON FICTION)

The writer looks at traditional surrogates-- women who use their own egg and are inseminated with the intended father's sperm. The analysis sheds light on the way surrogacy changes established notions of kinship, family, and motherhood.

7. Due Date by Nancy W. Wood (FICTION)

Surrogate mother Shelby McDougall just fell for the biggest con of all—a scam that risks her life and the lives of her unborn twins.

Shelby McDougall, recent college graduate, is facing a mountain of student debt and carting a burden she'd like to exorcise. But Jackson and Diane have their own secret agenda, one that has nothing to do with diapers and lullabies.

8. Womb for Rent by Amanda Brian (FICTION)

It is two books in one.  It has stories of a wealthy business tycoon Derek Cameron and his own resident pet sitter Talli Paxton, and Jenna McBay, who owns a bookstore and wants to wed a man of means.

9. Her Sister's Baby by Janice Kay Johnson (FICTION)

Colleen will do anything for her sister Sheila, including having her baby. Sheila's husband, Michael, wants a baby, too. When Colleen offers to be a surrogate for his wife, he's deeply grateful.

10. And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents, and Our Unexpected Families by Susan Goldberg, Chloë Brushwood Rose (FICTION)

(Courtesy: www.goodreads.com)

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Life of Surrogates in India

India is emerging as a leader in international surrogacy. Indian surrogates are becoming increasingly popular with couples from all over the world because surrogacy in India is much simpler as well as less costly. Few particular reasons are low cost surrogacy assistance, detachment of Indian females from drug and alcohol activities. 

Also, Indian IVF Clinics are becoming more competitive in low cost surrogacy assistance and hiring of Indian females as surrogates. Gestational surrogacy is very popular choice of infertile couples from abroad. A number of couples fly to India to get a baby of their own genes.

In India surrogacy was legalized in 2002, considering that it would be helpful for those women who are naturally not in a position to become a mother. At the same time, this practice helps those families with lack of financial stability and those families which are having the problem of lack of peace due to absence of child. Women in India, generally, become surrogates with dual aim, to assist the infertile couple and also to assist her family and children. Such women dream to give proper education to their children.

However, even after 12 years since the surrogacy was legalized, surrogate mothers face certain levels of social stigma and ostracism. As a practice surrogacy involves the bodies of poor women, which in India’s socially conservative culture, is cause enough for derision.

Butthe point is what the ethical issues are as to commercial surrogacy. Many argue that surrogate arrangements depersonalize reproduction and create a separation of genetic, gestational, and social parenthood. Others argue that there is a change in motives for creating children. According to them children are not conceived for their own sakes, but for another’s benefit.

Surrogates in India are bound around certain limitations. Few of those are no woman may act as a surrogate more than thrice in her lifetime, she and her husband has had no extramarital relationship in the last six months to ensure that the person would not come up with symptoms of HIV infection during the period of surrogacy, no drug abuse, and not undergo blood transfusion excepting of blood obtained through a certified blood bank.

Thus, commercial surrogacy continues to be highly stigmatized in India. Surrogates are spending the term of their pregnancy in surrogate homes in India and try to keep it a secret because reproduction is regarded as acceptable only within marriage; taken outside the domestic sphere of family, childbearing for economic achievement may be seen as ‘dirty work,’ ‘baby-selling’ or ‘womb-renting.’

People should know that the right to reproduce is a fundamental human right and surrogacy helps to conquer both biological and social infertility. It provides medically infertile couples to have a child of their own. Legalization of gestational surrogacy aims to protect the surrogate’s interests as well as those of the intended parents and the baby born after the surrogacy.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani 

IVF for Surrogacy and Egg Donation

For assisted reproduction purposes, egg donation typically involves the process of in vitro fertilization as the eggs are fertilized in the laboratory; more rarely, unfertilized eggs are frozen and stored for later use by the intended parents. Egg donation is part of the process of third party reproduction as part of ART (Assisted Reproductive Technology).

After egg donation, In vitro fertilization (IVF) is performed for gestational surrogacy. In the process, eggs are removed from an egg donor or from the intended mother and fertilized with sperm in a lab to create embryos. The resulting embryos are grown in laboratory conditions for 3-5 days. In a surrogacy arrangement, these embryos are then implanted into the uterus of a gestational surrogate. In an egg donation arrangement, they are transferred into the intended mother.

For the IVF procedure, surrogates and egg donors undergo medical treatments. An egg donor will be injected medications to stimulate the production of eggs. A surrogate takes medications to prepare her body for the embryo implantation.

Intended parents need to make a variety of choices in conjunction with the medical team at your IVF clinic. These decisions directly affect not only the success of the procedure, but also the number, health, and the biological makeup of the prospective children. The quality of the resulting embryos may affect the number that is recommended to be implanted. You may also have legal agreements in place that stipulate the number of embryos that can be transferred. You will also need to determine what to do with any remaining frozen embryos following the procedure.

The egg retrieval and IVF procedures are brief. Following the embryo transfer, your surrogate will require a period of bed rest. At any point in the process, you should feel free to reach out to your IVF clinic for any medical questions or to Circle with any questions about your contract, travel, or any other related issues.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani