Surrogate motherhood

1. Dharmashastra National Law
University, Jabalpur
Topic – Negative elements of surrogate
motherhood

2. Who is a surrogate mother ?
 Surrogate mother is a mother, who becomes
pregnant in order to give the baby to someone who
can’t have children.
 Merriam webster defines surrogate mother as a
woman who agrees to become pregnant usually by
artificial insemination or surgical implantation of a
fertilized egg for the purpose of carrying the fetus to
term for another woman.
 Surrogacy is often supported by a legal agreement.

4. Types of surrogacy
 1. Traditional surrogacy- In this
process the surrogate mother
becomes pregnant with semen of the
intended father and uses her own
eggs.
The surrogate mother is
genetically related to the child.
 2. Gestational surrogacy- It involves
IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) with the
eggs of intended mother and those
eggs are transferred to the surrogate
mother.
The surrogate mother is not
genetically related to the child.

5. How is gestational surrogacy
different from the concept of test tube
baby ?
 The concept of test tube baby is a kind of
assisted reproduction. In this process, fertilization
of a sperm and ovum is done in a lab (test tube
baby) and the growing embryo is transferred to a
woman’s uterus in order to continue the
pregnancy.
 The woman to whose uterus that baby (embryo)
was transferred is called surrogate mother.
 The crux of the matter is that making a test tube
baby is a process which is included in the
process of surrogacy.

6. Surrogacy in India
 Indian Council of Medical Research laid down
guidelines for surrogacy in the year 2002, since then
India had been a favorite country for those who want
a surrogate child. Even though there was no law for
it but the practice was legal. This service is cheap
(Low price) in India so, a lot of people from other
countries used to come to India to use this service.
The booming surrogacy industry had lax laws and no
enforcements.
 At present, commercial surrogacy is illegal in India.
There are laws which govern

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Classification of negative elements
of surrogate motherhood
Effects on
mind of
surrogate
mother.
Effects
on body
of
surrogate
mother.
Exploitatio
n of
surrogate
mother
and the
child.
Treating
surrogacy
as a
business.

8. Effects on the mind of surrogate
mother
 Sadness- At the end, the mother will not be going
home with the child she has lived with for nine
months.
 Depression- In surrogate pregnancy, as in every
pregnancy there is a risk of depression.

9. Health risks and effects on the body
of surrogate mother
Surrogate mother face a major issue relating to
their health. Pre mature labor and having
multiple babies is common in it. Like an ordinary
pregnancy, in this pregnancy too there is an
element of medical issues. Some of them are as
under :-
1. Potential damage to reproductive system
2. Gestational diabetes
3. Hypertension
4. Weight gain
5. Swelling
6. Back pain

10. Surrogate motherhood as
business
 Commercially taken surrogate mother need to tell
themselves from the beginning that the
pregnancy is merely a business relationship
 Some people think that commercially available
surrogate mothers are baby sellers.
 In surrogacy there is a demand of good looking
and academically high child.
 Therefore, we can say that this concept treats the
child like a commodity and her mother like a baby
seller and the whole process as a business

11. Exploitation of surrogate mother and
the child
Of all the classifications this one covers the
widest range. Commercial surrogacy is banned
in India due to widespread exploitation of the
surrogate mother. Exploiting the mother is the
worst negative element of surrogate motherhood.
It is done in the following ways-
1. In varoius countries there is no law which
forces a contracting mother to adopt the
disabled contracted surrogate baby, renegeting
the contract would be so bad because the
surrogate mother has to bring up the baby.

12. 2. Doing human trafficking in the global market in
order to get a lot of females who can be surrogate
mother and then sell their children.
3. Selling the babies by a contracted mother.
4. Forcing somebody to become surrogate mother.
5. Sometimes the Surrogate Mother Is Loved and
Used, Then Forgotten.

13. Violates human rights -
 As a matter of fact, the birthmother is paid for her
‘services’, but this is blatantly untrue. If she
miscarries or has an abortion, she will most likely
not be paid. It is the ‘product child’ that the
payment is for.

14. Surrogacy is a boon or curse ?
 We have already seen that surrogacy has so
many demerits. But it doesn’t mean that it has no
merit. Some of its merits are as under :-
1. Surrogacy is a boon for those who are infertile
but want to have a child.
2. Because of surrogacy, infertile parents can
raise a child from birth.
3. The child is genetically connected to its mom
and dad.
 We can say that it is a boon as well as a curse. It
is upto man how he uses it.

15. Bibliograph
y-
 Southernsurrogacy.com
 Surrogate.com
 www.eclj.org
 Surrogacylawsindia.com

16. THANK
YOU