http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HF16Df03.htmlIndia's new outsourcing business - wombs
It is a new dimension to outsourcing. An increasing number of couples are coming to India in search of cheaper fertility treatments, donor eggs and surrogate mothers. After turning to Indians to answer customer-service calls, the West, it seems, is now turning to them to carry their babies.
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In the United States, a couple would have to fork out about US$15,000 to the surrogate mother and another $30,000 to agencies involved. In India, they can do this on a smaller budget - the entire cost ranges between $2,500 and $5,000.
"Reproductive tourism" - as this trade is being referred to - is a booming business. Valued at more than $450 million in India, the industry is growing at a rapid pace. While exact figures are hard to come by, it is said that the number of cases of surrogacy has doubled over the past three years.
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Doctors in the reproductive-tourism business bristle when they are accused of engaging in unethical practice or when their trade is compared to another booming business - the trade in kidneys. After all, both are exploitative, feeding off the poverty of the donor/surrogate mother. But they insist that there is no exploitation, that the surrogate mother is well looked after by the couple paying for her services. The latter apparently ensure that she eats well when she is carrying the baby. The doctors claim they ensure that the surrogate mothers don't bond with the baby by constantly reminding them that the fetus in their womb is not theirs.
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But dig deeper and their emotional anguish becomes evident.
What is more, in countries like India where women are often forced to do as ordered by husbands and in-laws, the possibility of family pressure on her to become a surrogate mother for the sake of big money cannot be ruled out. And then there is the social stigma attached to carrying the child of a man who is not her husband.
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probably alot of the rented wombs are forced rentals.
and the 'why' of why american/western women can't conceive and/or carry a pregnancy is not discussed.
fertility will continue to worsen for humans and all mammals.