Couples look forward to Surrogacy Regularization in India

In Oct 2008, the Supreme Court ruled that "commercial surrogacy is legal and an industry in India", making it a legally protected and viable option for international couples. Now after 12 years, surrogacy in India has become a debatable sector.

Compensation, age and consent of the surrogate mother – the three major factors to be considered in surrogacy bill. Winter session of parliament is close and everyone has crossed fingers for a benchmark decision on surrogacy in India. Surrogacy in India has always been a controversial subject with activists blaming foreigners for exploiting poor women.

Recently, Department Of Health Research (Health Ministry) V M Katoch said to a leading newspaper that the final draft bill is now lying with the law ministry and, after being cleared, will be presented before the cabinet for approval.

It is a clear hint that the most debated practice in India is on the lines of regularization. In past 12 years, India helped thousands of couples to have children but the recent turn of events has put the practice under the scanner. Tightening of laws is suggested by activists and doctors to make the process transparent. India now has only the guidelines the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) released in 2002.

The Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation)Bill, 2013, it seeks to address issues like how many pregnancies can be allowed for a surrogate mother, the age of the mother and due compensation to be paid to her. The bill will also provide a framework for letting foreigners use Indian surrogate mothers.

In 2012, an Australian couple left behind one of the twins born to an Indian surrogate mother because they could not afford to bring up two children back home. Earlier in 2010, a German couple, Jan Balaz and Susan Lohle, had to wait for two years before they could take their twin babies home. Their twin sons, Nikolas and Leonard, were trapped in a citizenship limbo ever since an Indian surrogate mother gave birth to them in February 2008. The boys were refused passports by their parents` homeland because German nationality is determined by the birth mother. The issue was finally settled after a prolonged court battle.

According to a 2012 study by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), an estimated 10,000 foreign couples visit India for reproductive services and nearly 30 percent are either single or gay. In earlier versions - in 2008 and 2010 - the bill relied on contract law to establish a relationship between the commissioning parents and the clinic. In the current version, the bill states that a professional surrogate will be hired by a government-recognized ART Bank and not private fertility clinics, which is the current practice. The compensation, as per the 2013 draft, will be a private negotiation between the surrogate mother and commissioning parents.

Highlights of Assisted Reproductive Technologies(Regulation) Bill, 2013,

-       The Bill addresses all issues pertaining to ethics in commercial surrogacy.

-       The Bill is only to help infertile couples and should act as a deterrent to commercial surrogacy.

The CII study estimated that nearly 10,000 foreign couples visit India for reproductive services and nearly 30% are either single or homosexual.

-        However, the Surrogacy Bill will disqualify homosexual couples, foreign single individuals and couples in live-in relationships from having children through surrogate mothers in India. The law also imposes age restrictions on surrogate mothers.

-        Homosexuals and foreign single individuals are barred from seeking surrogacy assistance in India.

-       Other than this, many restrictions imposed are not encouraging for business.

In earlier versions—in 2008 and 2010—the ART Bill relied on contract law to establish a relationship between the commissioning parents and the clinic. In the current version, the Bill states that a professional surrogate will be hired by a government-recognized ART Bank and not private fertility clinics, the current practice.

-         The compensation, as per the 2013 draft, will be a private negotiation between the surrogate mother and commissioning parents. Currently, IVF clinics decide the amount and pay the surrogate mother a portion. 

Last year, Home Ministry laid down certain norms on surrogacy as an immediate attempt to define the contours ofsurrogacy activities in India,

-        Home Ministry lays down conditions for grant of visa to foreign couples commissioning surrogacy in India

-        Home Ministry has already announced that it will not give tourist visas to foreigner nationals coming to India for commissioning surrogacy, of which several cases have been reported.

-        In order to ensure that the surrogate mother’s interests are protected, the Ministry said, such a visa may only be granted if certain conditions are fulfilled — the foreign man and woman must be duly married for at least two years.

-         The Ministry will also insist that the Indian embassy or Foreign Ministry of the country concerned enclose an acknowledgement, along with the visa application, that the country recognises surrogacy and that the child/children to be born to the commissioning couple through the Indian surrogate mother will be permitted entry into their country as a biological child/children of the couple.

-        Besides, the couple should produce a duly notarised agreement between the applicant couple and the prospective Indian surrogate mother. The Ministry has informed the Indian missions abroad that the commissioning couple needs to be told that they must obtain “exit” permission from the Foreign Regional Registration Offices before leaving India for their return journey.

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- 9873083334, +91- 9329630455

Email - contact@raipurivf.com

Visit Our Websites

Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Centre - Raipur

Low Cost IVF India - Pahlajani Test Tube Baby Centre

Pahlajani Critical Pregnancy Care Centre - Raipur

Why Surrogacy Needs Regulation?

While there are activists to fight for the rights of surrogate mothers, no is nobody has raised voice for the newborns. Yes, there are couples who have abandoned their children born through surrogacy in India. One of the recent cases was reported when an Australian couple abandoned one of the twins born through surrogacy in India. In the absence of any legal safeguard, malpractices such as this keep happening, says experts. There are many issues besides sex selection and exploitation of the poor surrogate mothers. There are a number of factors emerging from every side to taint surrogacy process. While surrogacy is a process to help an infertile couple to have their own children, there are clinics, couples and middlemen engaged in illegal activities. This cycle will continue till the surrogacy sector is regularised.

In 2014, India recorded around 20,000 approx surrogacy centers. However, only 270 have been enlisted by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on the basis of infrastructure and trained manpower.  India is fast being recognised as an attractive option for commercial surrogacy centre, human rights activists maintain that while commercial surrogacy in itself is welcome where persons unable to have children are aided by willing surrogates to have their biological children, problem comes in due to the exploitative nature of the business and lack of regulation in the industry.

No fixed compensation structure, no laws that cater to the health and number of births that a surrogate can support and usually incomplete advertisements of the services by medical establishments work against the interest of the women involved in the case.

After regular attempts to regulate the surrogacy sector in India, an AssistedReproductive Technologies (Regulation) Bill, 2013—an attempt by India to regulate commercial surrogacy—is likely to be presented to the cabinet on Thursday before being introduced in Parliament.

After making necessary modifications in the earlier versions of the bill passed in 2008 and 2010, the cabinet approved it with the vetting from Law Ministry and Planning Commission.

Below are the few highlights of Assisted Reproductive Technologies(Regulation) Bill, 2013,

-       The Bill addresses all issues pertaining to ethics in commercial surrogacy.

-       The Bill is only to help infertile couples and should act as a deterrent to commercial surrogacy.

The CII study estimated that nearly 10,000 foreign couples visit India for reproductive services and nearly 30% are either single or homosexual.

-        However, the Surrogacy Bill will disqualify homosexual couples, foreign single individuals and couples in live-in relationships from having children through surrogate mothers in India. The law also imposes age restrictions on surrogate mothers.

-        Homosexuals and foreign single individuals are barred from seeking surrogacy assistance in India.

-       Other than this, many restrictions imposed are not encouraging for business.

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 inIndia and increase in number of patients from overseas to commission surrogacy due to low cost surrogacy in India, the surrogacysector 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. 

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)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Pahlajani Critical Pregnancy Care Centre - Raipur

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

Surrogacy and Adoption in India

Surrogacy 

Adoption and surrogacy are the two options to bring a child into the family.

The desire for a genetic link and increasing desire of prospective parents to monitor the child's prenatal care and medical history has made surrogacy a more preferred option.

The parents wanting a child through surrogacy need to go through a few steps,

1. Locating the surrogacy clinic,
2. Screening and working with an appropriate surrogate mother,
3. Medically and psychologically examination of surrogate,
4. Establishing a legal contract, and
5. Finally transferring embryos to the surrogate's uterus and confirming the pregnancy.

Adoption

For those parents who simply yearn for a child—genetically related or not—adoption can be both a compassionate and enriching experience. In fact, many parents choose adoption precisely so that they might provide a better family life not only for themselves, but also for the adopted child whose need, after all, is apparent.

Below are the seven stages of adoption in India as defined by Central Adoption Resource Authority, Ministry of Women and Child Development,

1.  Registration
2.  Pre-adoption Counselling and Preparation of the PAP(s)
3.  Home Study and Other requirements
4.  Referral and Acceptance
5.  Pre-adoption foster care
6.  Legal Procedure
7.  Follow up visits and post-adoption services

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

Does obesity reduce chance of getting pregnant with donor egg?

According to a new study conducted by Washington University of Medicine, women who use donor eggs to become pregnant through in vitro fertilization (IVF), those who are obese are just as likely to become pregnant as normal weight women. The study showed that these complications are restricted to women trying to conceive naturally. Obesity doesn't significantly affect women trying to conceive through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

However, the women are advised to reduce weight before pregnancy in any type of conception, including ovum donation. Being obese during pregnancy can have a major impact on your health and your baby's health. The best way to protect your health and your baby's wellbeing is to lose weight before you become pregnant. By reaching a healthy weight, you increase your chances of conceiving naturally and reduce your risk of the problems associated with being overweight in pregnancy.

Obesity is not an influential factor when it comes to analyzing the differences in the rates of miscarriages or live births among obese women who use donor eggs. Investigators aren’t sure whether the quality of a woman’s eggs or her uterus is most affected by obesity. As a result, several studies have focused on donor egg recipients to provide some clues.

Many IVF programs have arbitrary body mass index (BMI) restrictions that help them determine whether women can receive treatment. These cutoffs need to be re-examined.

In this analysis, obesity (defined as a BMI over 30) was not associated with a difference in pregnancy rates when compared with pregnancy rates in women with a normal BMI. The data from this study also indicates that obesity was not associated with differences in the rates of miscarriage or live birth among obese women who used donor eggs, when compared with women of normal weight. However, live births and miscarriages were not reported in all of the studies.

Previous studies have stated that obesity reduces chances of spontaneous pregnancy in women. Even if an obese woman gets pregnant, there are high possibilities of her suffering complications. Obesity was not found to be associated with differences in the rates of miscarriage or live birth among obese women who used donor eggs, when compared with women of normal weight.

However, reproductive outcome has affected female obesity. An analysis egg donation treatment shows that female obesity reduced the receptivity of uterus of embryo implantation and thereby compromises reproductive outcome.  

If you are very overweight and you are pregnant, don't try to lose weight during your pregnancy as this may not be safe. Although there are risks associated with being obese during pregnancy, there is no evidence that losing weight while you're pregnant will reduce these risks.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani 

How to Communicate with Your Surrogate

For fostering a good relationship with a surrogate, communication needs to be strong. It can be through emails, phone calls, even video calling, but you need to be in regular touch with the surrogate. Communication would ease the tension and also help both surrogate and intended parents to understand each other’s concerns. For establishing a good communication, you need to be direct and allow each other to open up.

Intended parents should encourage weekly exchange of emails or texts to know about each other’s well being. Regardless of how often you and your surrogate talk during the pregnancy, it is suggested that intended parents should increase communication before the birth of child. It is recommended that during the surrogate’s pregnancy, talking and exchange of ideas should be ensured. It will help to safeguard everyone’s expectations.

What Should the Intended Parents Talk?

1. Ask about surrogate’s well being

2. Ask if she needs anything

3. Ask if she is willing to pump breast milk

4. Talk about your relationship with surrogate after birth of child

Staying connected after the baby is born is also an important part of the surrogacy journey. At Pahlajani Surrogacy Care, we ensure that intended parents and their surrogates develop strong ties. The friendship between the recipient mother and surrogate even continues after she delivers your baby. 

We encourage intended parents and surrogates to discuss about the baby to eliminate confusion and the potential for disappointment. Communication helps the surrogate to keep that strength and helps intended parents to know about the journey of their child inside surrogate’s womb. A lack of effective communication can often lead to misunderstandings, in turn leading to feelings of dishonesty or distrust. 

Maintaining open and steady communication between the agency and the intended parents enables each party to feel more comfortable and at ease 

during the process.

It is important for the intended parents to identify how involved they want to be during and after the pregnancy.  With that in mind, it is essential that the needs of the intended parents be matched with those of the surrogate.  Most couples prefer an open relationship with their surrogate

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

What Gestational Surrogate Needs to Know

Serving as gestational surrogate for an infertile couple to create a family is a something not everyone can do. It requires investment of emotions and few other complexities to deal with. 

There are certain things a gestational surrogate needs to know,

First, any woman serving as surrogate needs to that there is great range of medical information available.  

1. Eggs of surrogate are not used in gestational surrogacy

The eggs, or oocytes, come from either the intended mother or a third-party egg donor. This is why we call it “gestational surrogacy,” not “traditional surrogacy.”

2. Necessary routine tests

Gestational surrogate would need to undergo vaginal ultrasound that allows the physician to examine the uterus. There are chances the surrogate may be asked to have a hysteroscopy — in which a tiny camera painlessly examines your uterus — or other procedure to determine the general health of your uterus. Routine blood tests will be given to rule out the presence of communicable diseases such as AIDS, herpes, and hepatitis. You will be asked to provide an up-to-date pap smear, and might be requested to have a mammogram done.

3. Embryo formation

As a gestational surrogate, you will be given several medications to help prepare your uterus to receive the embryo. These medications may include standard birth control pills (at the beginning of your menstrual cycle). You will be started on estrogen at about the time the intended mother or the egg donor is being induced to ovulate if the embryo transfer cycle is a coordinated or “fresh,” one. Then, just before her eggs are harvested, you will begin on another hormone — progesterone — to further prepare for implantation. 

Normally, you will be required to continue to take hormones, usually by injection, even if the embryo transfer is what we call a “frozen” cycle, where the embryos have already been created and are frozen for future use by the intended parents. Remember, this is meant to be general guidance here, and is not meant in any way to be giving medical advice or instruction.

4. In Vitro Fertilization, or IVF

In this, hormones are given to the intended mother or the egg donor to induce ovulation, and her eggs are harvested via aspiration guided by vaginal ultrasound. Then, from 50,000 to one million sperm are mixed with the eggs and incubated, so that fertilization can occur. When the timing is right, the resulting embryos are transferred into your uterus, as the gestational surrogate. 

5. Embryo transfer

The embryo is carefully flushed in the liquid medium for transfer through your cervix into your uterus. Sometimes, the doctor will use ultrasound to help with placement of embryos, and afterward you may be asked to remain lying-down for a period of time.

6. Blood tests

After two weeks of embryo transfer, a simple blood test will be performed to confirm pregnancy — at which point both estrogen and progesterone medication may be continued.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Pahlajani Surrogacy India: Self IVF Embryo, Donor Eggs & Self Sperms, Self Eggs & Donor Sperms Surrogacy

Are you looking out for some good and affordable surrogates who can lend you their womb? Well if this is the case then you can think of hunting for some good options; that is Pahlajani surrogacy India. We have some great Surrogacy programs through which you can get cheap surrogacy. In case you willing to go for surrogacy but cannot do that because of the cost then not to worry. There is a great alternative that you can choose for this problem of yours. Today there is reasonable affordable surrogacy available in some parts of the world. You can go there and get affordable surrogates. The best option available with you for the purpose of reasonable surrogacy is India. Here you can easily realize your Dream of "own" baby with surrogacy and that too in a very reasonable price.

India has become the top international surrogacy destination for couples and even single men and women who have not been able to have children through natural means. The success of the procedure in Pahlajani Surrogacy India is greatly attributed to the cutting edge technology, highly qualified fertility specialists, social acceptance of surrogacy, and low cost of surrogacy, all leading to India's high success rate in gestational surrogacy.

Going for surrogacy is a very big decision. It involves lot of ethical, moral, and also financial issues. This is the reason you need to be very careful while taking a step ahead in choosing surrogates. The surrogacy is a very expensive process to.

But for your knowledge there are also affordable surrogacy options available in many places. There are few countries where the cost of surrogacy is not that high as it is in some countries. So those who are willing to go for affordable surrogacy can think of this option. 

Surrogacy or Surrogate refers to alternate or a substitute. In medical terminology, surrogacy indicates an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to undergo the pregnancy, labor, and delivery for another individual who either cannot through artificial insemination or surgical implantation of a fertilized ovum or embryo.

Commercial surrogacy is legal in India, as recognized by the Supreme Court of India in 2002. Now we can say that India is one among the emerging country as a leader in international surrogacy and fertility. Indian surrogates have been increasingly popular with fertile couples in industrialized nations because of the relatively low cost. Indian clinics are at the same time becoming more competitive, not just in the pricing, but in the hiring and retention of Indian females as surrogates.

Today many couples and singles from around the world travel to India, in search of their quest of their own baby with surrogacy. Simply because there are some good clinics and great IVF Infertility specialist doctors in India, infertility clinics in India. Working with reputable IVF specialist doctors with “state of the art” medical technology in India is an experience. 

Surrogacy is a very expensive process and lots of money will be required. In such a situation if at all you spend money in a very careless manner then it will be far more expensive then before therefore you will have to keep this in your mind and then only take any kind of decision related to the affordable surrogacy for your better family future.

Here Pahlajani Surrogacy India provides you, each and every possible process for surrogacy and maintained also very high success rate of Surrogacy with very cheap and affordable cost. You can start the process of Surrogacy by your Self IVF Embryos or Self sperms and Donor egg or Self eggs and donor sperms.