Surrogate mothers in India

A BBC News Video I saw yesterday.

A growing number of Indian women are being used as egg donors and surrogate mothers

The motivations are clear. For many childless couples surrogacy is one clear option (the other is adoption). For the poor women who agree to be surrogate mothers, it is a way out of their poverty, a way to provide for their own children. The contentius area is regulation of this apparently fast growing half a billion pounds industry.

An earlier article in Guardian.

However, campaigners in Britain question the ethics of such businesses. "What is missing here is a debate about not protecting the rights of the surrogate mother," says Susan Seenan, of Infertility Network UK. "It does not matter where you are - in the UK, US or India - giving up a child is a terribly emotional issue. We have seen that here in Britain and I am not sure the Indian system has addressed that."

What is being created is a global baby industry that is regulated nationally, leaving loopholes that can be exploited by customers willing to travel, she adds.

The Indian medical research council, which oversees medicine in the country, does not have any guidelines to deal with foreign clients using Indian surrogates. But a study is being prepared to assess the issue.

The wikipedia page on Surrogacy gives a good overview of the issues involved.