Surrogacy Homes - Cosseted Shelter for Surrogate Mums

As a part of long term push, commercial surrogacy fueled enthusiasm of Indian doctors to cater foreign infertile couples seeking surrogacy help, due to certain legal implications in concerned countries. Despite certain inhibitions fused with India culture, foreigners seek surrogacy options in India for women here are amiable and restrain drinking or smoking. The idea of hopping an overseas flight to India became more common after the country balanced the equation of surrogates and genetic couples with the catalyst called commercial surrogacy. The science narrowed the geographical distances and washed away the ethnic inhibitions attached to a process like surrogacy, which is much widely accepted and respected.

The sensation about fraction-cost surrogacy offered in Raipur has put the capital of a decade born Chhattisgarh on world’s surrogacy map. Opening the floodgates for the outsourcing of foreign pregnancies, Raipur has emerged with state-of-art surrogacy homes; those replicate the best offered care for surrogate mothers.

Inside the walls of surrogacy homes, women—all married and with at least one previous child—trade the comforts of home to enroll as surrogates to support country’s medical tourism industry. Most spend their entire pregnancies within guarded residential facilities to bear the child of foreign couples in their journey that crossed continents and cultures. Surrogates are cloistered from the unwarranted environment to facilitate medical monitoring and evade inquest. The women are fed nutritious food, injected with iron (a common deficiency), and supervised away from prying in-laws, curious older children and inquisitive husbands with home they are allowed no home visits or sex. 

Women carry the genes with unexplained happiness for few specific reasons, fruit of motherhood, ending stigma of infertility for applicant couples and financial support to dream a better education and future for their own children. Women, who do a thankless job as home makers, are given a cosseted environment away from social spotlight in Pahlajani Surrogacy Home.

Surrogacy homes ensure monitored care of surrogate mothers throughout the pregnancy, for them to incubate the fertilized eggs of infertile couples. The day surrogacy care opened the doors of commercialization in India that added gross benefit to countries exchequer. However, the lucrative trend bought addition responsibilities for doctors to ensure finest services to both medical tourists and surrogate mothers. Unlike other clinics, which were brought under the legal scanner for scrimping on surrogate pay, Pahlajani IVF Clinic ascended towards safeguarding the rights of surrogate under the legal norms of the country.  

Sizable surrogacy programmes in Pahlajani IVF Clinic recruits women suitable to become a carrier for infertile couples. The clinic ensures legitimate incentive to surrogates against a yearlong benevolence of a surrogate. In the latest crafted legislation of Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi ensures notarized agreement between prospective surrogate and applicant couple to ensure the safeguard of interests of both. With monitored nurturing to assure smooth pregnancy, Pahlajani ensures after pregnancy checkups for healthy living of a surrogate.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

India - The Surrogacy Destination

Wonderment of gazing your own child after years of fruitless procedures to end infertility is a joy hard to define. India is the home for largest number of surrogates, who simultaneously enjoy the perks of commercialization. 

After pushing the envelope of commercialized surrogacy in 2002, India became a surrogacy capital with low-cost surrogacy, skilled doctors, scant bureaucracy and a plentiful supply of surrogates. For two reasons India is preferred destination for fertility tourism to attract nationals from Britain, the United States, Australia and Japan, first, low-cost surrogacy. The complete package costs just one-third of the total procedure cost in the United Kingdom and other developed countries. Second, the legal environment is favorable to keep away the infertile couples away from legal tangles.

Magnifying the global picture about surrogacy shows that “surrogate motherhood” is illegal in Italy, banned for commercial purposes in Australia, Spain and China, and is allowed with restrictions in the United States, France and Germany. While in the same time Indian protects the rights of surrogate mothers from being exploited, and defines the rights of children born from surrogacy.

Legal differences between surrogacy procedures in India and other countries

In India, the medical guidelines allow implantation of five embryos in a surrogate mother, which considerably increases the chances of conceiving while in Britain the maximum is two, and European countries allow the implantation of a single embryo.

The latest surrogacy guidelines in India allow the legal rights of child/children to the recipient couple, while simultaneously allowing the surrogate mother to sign away her rights to the baby as soon as it is delivered.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.

Although, the revised visa requirements introduced have prohibited parents with less than two years of marriage, foreign same-sex couples, single parents to undertake surrogacy in India. Certain revised laws allow women between 21 and 35 years old to become surrogates. Also, the surrogates are provided with insurance and notarized contracts must be signed between the women and the commissioning parents.

Narrowing down the radar to Central India, surrogacy in Raipur is welcomed without much bedlam about social stigma attached to the process. Surrogacy is one of the listed alternatives in the roles that a woman can outsource in exchange of sum that could churn a minimum livelihood in a developing country. Raipur became the destination of surrogacy in topography after number of successful surrogacy births. Away from the chaos of metro, the city allows privacy to both surrogates and recipient couple.

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

 

Surrogacy laws in India

Rejigging the old, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi issued new guidelines pertaining to surrogacy in India.

With the issue of new guidelines, the ministry has plugged the loopholes in the surrogacy process and leaving no doubts for foreigners seeking fertility assistance in India. In the seven-point edict, Ministry stated that, noncitizens of India can commission surrogacy only on Medical VISA. Tourists VISA would not be considered legitimate to be eligible for undergoing surrogacy treatment and guilty would be liable for action under the law.

Under the second guideline, single parent or couples married for less than two years would be not be eligible to commission surrogacy in India. Underlining that Indian laws do not recognize gay marriages, ministry refuted giving surrogacy assistance to gay couples. So, only opposite sex couples, whose marriage has sustained more than two years would be eligible to commission surrogacy.

In the third guideline, ministry maintained that couple commissioning surrogacy should be in possession of letter from embassy of foreign country in India or Foreign ministry of the country stating two things clearly, first the country recognizes surrogacy and second the child to be born to commissioning couple through the Indian surrogate will be permitted entry into the country as their biological child/children to the commissioning couple.

Fourth guideline made it mandatory for the commissioning couple to sign an undertaking vowing that they would take care of child/children born through surrogacy.

Couple would also need to produce a duly notarized agreement between applicant couple and the prospective Indian surrogate, so as to protect the interest of both, as mentioned in the fifth guideline.

Ensuring no illegal conduct, a diktat for only Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recognized Assistant Reproductive Technology (ART) clinics to conduct surrogacy related treatment was issued in the sixth guideline. This guideline was issued to reduce the chances of forgery and ensuring resistance free service to the foreigners.

In the final guideline, the foreign couple would require ‘exit’ permission before their return journey from India and would need to carry a certificate from concerned ART clinic regarding the fact that child/children have been duly taken custody by the foreign couple and the liabilities toward the India surrogate mother are fully discharged as per agreement. A copy of birth certificate(s) of surrogate child/children will be retained by Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO)/Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) along with photocopies of the passport and VISA of the foreign parents.

 Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Website

http://www.raipurivf.com/

http://www.pahlajanipregnancycare.com/

http://lowcostivfindia.com/

Email

drpahlajaniraipur@gmail.com

Surrogacy: Legal Issues and Ethical Considerations

In 2013, the Supreme Court of India concluded that the citizenship of the child born through surrogacy process will have the citizenship of its surrogate mother. Under the legislation, it banned surrogacy to single persons, homosexual couples, foreign single individuals and couples in live-in relationships.

But, the landmark decision also derived certain rights to the surrogates wanting to rent their wombs to infertile couples. Under Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Bill, women in India were benefited under commercial surrogacy so as to protect the legal and ethical issues related to surrogacy and nationality of the child born out of ART.

Pahlajani Surrogacy Center ensures that no woman less than 21 years of age and above 35 years acts as a surrogate, women with more than five successful births, including of their own children are considered ineligible for surrogacy, and two-year interval between two deliveries mandatory for surrogate mothers, and surrogates cannot undergo embryo transfer for more than three times for same couple. Surrogates are also tested, HIV, Hepatitis A and B, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and other genetic diseases before the process.

Rights of Surrogate mothers 

Surrogate mothers could retain the rights of insurance, medical and living cost during the pregnancy period from the infertile couple. Surrogates also have the right to terminate her pregnancy at any month owing to some medical complications. However, if the termination occurs without medical but other reasons then the surrogate would be subject to reimburse the cost to the infertile couple.

In case the first embryo transfer fails in the surrogate mother, she has right to decide (on mutually agreed financial terms) whether to accept at most two more successful embryo transfers for the same couple. The recipient couple, staying outside India, would be obligatory to appoint a local guardian for the surrogate carrying their child responsible to take care of the mother.Also, only Indian citizens have the right to act as a surrogate, and Pahlajani Surrogacy Center does not encourage/allow an Indian for surrogacy in abroad.

Rights of Infertile Couple seeking Surrogacy 

At Pahlajani Surrogacy Center, the Infertile couple are ensured to be the biological parents of the child born through surrogacy process, the surrogate would have no parental right on the child and would not be allowed forced communication with the child. However, the child can establish a communication after reaching adulthood. The couple seeking surrogacy also has right to access information about family and medical background of the surrogate.The birth certificate issued in respect of a baby born through surrogacy is issued in the names of the couple who commissioned the surrogacy and addresses them as parents. The couple who has availed of the services of a surrogate mother is legally bound to accept the custody of the child/children irrespective of any abnormality that the child/children may have.

Under the law, Pahlajani Surrogacy Center does not give services of more than one surrogate to a single couple and does not allow simultaneous transfer of embryos in the woman and in a surrogate.Also, the foreigners seeking surrogacy services in India are made to provide written proof that their home country permits surrogacy, and it is ensured that the child born through surrogacy in India will be permitted entry in their home country and have legal rights under the law of the country. Pahlajani Surrogacy Center also ensures safeguarding the caste, ethnic identity and descent of both the surrogate and infertile couple. 

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Surrogacy – need or trend?

Surrogacy, without a question is the latest celebrity lifestyle fad! With the raft of celebrities browsing for “gestational carrier”, surrogacy can be termed as latest synonym for modern-day wet nursing. Although, the idea of surrogacy has boded well with mighty celebrities, but the notion still remains a taboo for many. However, no one would disagree with the fact that the celebrities have pushed the envelope on an alien idea like surrogacy.

Child carriers were need before the fertile women started finding it equally legitimate to let another woman harbor their child. With this, surrogate parenthood imbued an all-new dimension to the concept of non-traditional motherhood. While hundreds of people still absorb the gravity of the idea, thousands more opt for surrogacy every day. As a result, surrogacy has become dinner table discussion in every household. Few hold strong opinion about item, while few lace surrogacy with ethnic limitations.

Trend

Celebrities like Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao are among many who have diluted the conservative belief behind the process. It is not that these celebrities avoided tasting the fruit of traditional parenthood; it was that they accepted surrogacy reasonable for their career-oriented lives. Expanding families or career has lately become a contentious question for career-oriented women. Women, who are workaholic, or ageing, or have just started with their career, tend to take route for non-conventional motherhood, i.e., surrogacy.

With age, the chances of complications during pregnancy multiply and so many people welcomed the idea of surrogacy as it is safer and involves fewer complications. Surrogacy is sometimes referred to an unconventional route to pregnancy, and many times the idea is debased as “customer service”, for infertile customers shopping for surrogates. But in India, where commercial surrogacy is legal, it is a win-win situation for both the parents and carriers, who are most of the times poor and require financial assistance. It gives sustenance of parenthood to one and livelihood to another. 

Need

Women having hormonal problems, like failure to produce mature eggs, malfunction of the hypothalamus, malfunction of the pituitary gland, or scarred ovaries, premature, menopause, or follicle problems are remained with no option than to go for surrogacy. Sometimes behavioral factors like smoking, alcohol and drugs might be a resistance into the idea of getting pregnant. Apart from female biological reasons, there might be some other reasons that sum up to infertility. So, surrogacy can be viewed as both an option a trend, in both ways the parental need of couples is satisfied. Surrogacy is something of a paradox, a boon, widely voted for, child producing paradox – omnipresent yet scarce.   

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani

Renting-a-Womb becomes uncomplicated in India

Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) can fly to the country without a medical visa for commissioning surrogacy, read the headline of a leading newspaper two days ago. The newsflash described how the only permission from Regional Registration Office (FRRO) or the Foreigners’ Registration Office (FRO) would do to allow a couple search for surrogates in India.

Industrialized countries like India attract more reproductive tourists mainly because it offers low cost package with almost negligible legal intervention. India makes to the list of countries with flexible laws involving IUI, IVF and fertility treatments. In India, Raipur is one of the destinations that have shed the veil of stigma attached to surrogacy process. Indian reproduction farms are hogged international attention because of the diluted surrogacy laws. Patients from topologically separated countries are seen rummaging the search engines for surrogate mothers in India.

When a woman bears and delivers a child for another couple or person it is called surrogacy. It can be defined under six heads, first is Traditional Surrogacy (TS) that involves natural or artificial insemination of a surrogate mother with the intended father's sperm via IUI, IVF or home insemination.

Another is Traditional Surrogacy and Donor Sperm (TS/DS) in which a surrogate mother is artificially inseminated with donor sperm via IUI, IVF or home insemination. The third type can be defined under the head Gestational surrogacy (GS) when the intended mother conceive due to hysterectomy, diabetes, cancer, or related diseased and her egg and the intended father's sperm are used to create an embryo (via IVF) that is transferred into and carried by the surrogate mother. Another type of surrogacy is called Gestational surrogacy and egg donation (GS/ED) in which mother is unable to produce eggs, the surrogate mother carries the embryo developed from a donor egg in her womb that has been fertilized by sperm from the intended father.

If there is no intended father or the intended father is unable to produce sperm, the surrogate mother carries an embryo developed from the egg of the mother who is unable to carry a pregnancy herself) and donor sperm then it called Gestational surrogacy and donor sperm (GS/DS). With this method, the child born is genetically related to the intended mother and the surrogate mother has no genetic relation. (Courtesy: www.wikepedia.com )
Surrogacy is called Gestational Surrogacy and Donor Embryo (GS/DE) when the intended parents are unable to produce sperm, egg, or embryo, the surrogate mother can carry a donated embryo (often from other couples who have completed IVF that have leftover embryos). The child born is genetically related neither to the intended parents nor the surrogate mother.

Clearly, surrogacy has sketched a diagram of positivity for infertile parents, who have equally chances of having a family compared to fertile ones. 

Dr Neeraj Pahlajani 

Legal and ethical to-dos for several infertile couples during Surrogacy

The latest celebrity rumour is that superstar Shah Rukh Khan and wife Gauri are expected to welcome their third child via a surrogate last few months. This news once again focuses attention on India's $450 million reproductive industry, which has been attracting infertile Western couples due to relaxed legislation and low costs ($100,000 in the US compared to $25,000 in India — including clinic charges, travel and lodging, the surrogate's fee and lawyer's bills).

In recent years, the number of infertile couples or childless couples increases very rapidly. Today every one couple out of seven is infertile due to any of the infertility causes. Some people have myth that by giving time or relaxing infertility can be overcome, however the fact is that fertility issues are medical in nature and there are effective treatments available for these problems.

Surrogacy refers to an arrangement between a woman who agrees to carry and deliver another person or couple's baby for a fee after a previously created embryo has been transferred into her in a clinical set-up. The sperm and/or eggs can be the commissioning parents' or sourced from donors. For some couples battling infertility, this may be the only route to parenthood. Experts suggest you ask the right questions before making a choice.

The times when medical advances like IVF was not available, the only option in third party reproduction is traditional surrogacy where a woman (surrogate mother) is artificially inseminated with the sperm from the intended parent and the woman is a biological mother to the baby she is carrying. Through traditional surrogacy, there is a 50% genetic tie to that child and that is the reason why these days most of the intended couples prefer gestational surrogacy that allows intended parents to use their own genetic makeup (egg or sperm) and surrogate mother just assist them by renting her uterus for nine months or up to the delivery of the child.

Counselling will help you figure if your infertile status can be treated. Surrogacy is usually suggested if a uterine factor is involved, as in the case of genital tuberculosis or if the uterus is deformed because of multiple fibroids or in rare conditions when the uterus is congenitally absent. Women who suffer repeated miscarriages or have severe diabetes and hypertension can also resort to surrogacy.

Examine your financial stability, family support structure and relationship with your spouse. Understand the medical procedure and have realistic expectations. It is a myth that surrogacy always results in a baby. A successful surrogacy depends on the age of the biological mother, quality and quantity of her eggs, the husband's sperm parameters, and the nutrition and health status of the surrogate and the track record of the IVF centre. Since the surrogate is fertile, having had children of her own, it is adequate if two good quality embryos are inserted, if the genetic mother's age is less than 37. If older, consider placing up to three embryos. Transferring more has no advantage, and can jeopardize the chances of a healthy singleton pregnancy. All guidelines judiciously reduce the risk of caesareans and obstetric emergencies.

India does not have a legislation governing surrogacy; only guidelines. It's the surrogacy agreement that governs the contractual relation between the parties. Anticipated problems include the surrogate claiming the child as her own or enforcing parental visitation or custodial rights. Further, the surrogate's husband may claim the child under section 112 of the Evidence Act, which highlights the presumption of paternity, i.e. when a child is born during the continuation of a marriage, the husband of the woman giving birth is presumed to be father of the child. 

Intended Parents would have to advise for secure a well-drafted surrogacy agreement, get the surrogate and her husband counselled in their local language and make sure she understands her legal rights and liabilities. These will help you to ensure an iron-clad contract: name and details of parties; why does the party to the agreement propose surrogacy; details about the surrogate; the exact intention between the parties while entering the agreement; the type of surrogacy; proper compensation clause; relinquishment of rights by the surrogate mother; details with regard to the compensation in times of unexpected mis happenings to the surrogate; and clarity that the child's custody with the intended parents alone is legal custody.

The dialogue you have over regulations and rights should always involve the surrogate and egg donor. Consistency and transparency in contracts is a significant step towards ensuring fairness and granting the surrogate negotiating power with the agent. During process, we discovered that there tends to be a discrepancy in the amount the commissioning parents are asked to pay the surrogate, and the fee she finally receives. The contract they are made to sign lists a significantly lower amount. Your intervention can prevent this. Ask yourself if the installment plan for the surrogate is fair typically.

Popularity of Surrogacy

From last few years, surrogacy is gaining amazing popularity among infertile couples, especially for those who can't conceive children in the natural way or are unable to get pregnant through other assisted reproductive techniques. The very most common reason why people opt for a surrogate is when the woman has absence of uterus. Sometimes it can be absent since birth or may have been surgically removed. Also woman with multiple IVF failure for unexplained reasons and those who have suffered multiple miscarriages, gay couples and single men, generally opt this effective treatment option to enjoy parenthood.

Surrogate can be anyone including a sister, mother or close friend of a couple or also someone known or unknown to the couple, who is ready to her womb. Women who agree to become surrogates may do so for compassionate reasons.

Guidelines for Surrogacy technique

Certain guidelines have been laid down to try to minimize the misuse of the surrogacy arrangement. As per the Indian Surrogacy Law, a surrogate mother needs to sign a contract which should specify that the child will become the legitimate adopted child of the intended couples. Surrogacy technique has received quite a lot of bad history recently, especially when there is a dispute over the baby between the intended parents and the surrogate and that is the reason why many people are worried about the possibilities of the surrogacy being misused.

It's a fact that surrogacy is a hope for many childless couples, but here it is important to remember that this technique does offer one method of achieving parenthood to only those couples who could never have a baby by any other means of pregnancy. The path of surrogacy is a rocky one and also requires a lot much thought. Perhaps it is the most complex and difficult way to achieve parenthood, but still only option to a few couples, so they must be careful to choose a certified agency that will provide them with all information they require.