Section Article

The Politics of Surrogacy in India: Ethical Dilemmas and Policy Challenges
Author(s): AGGYA PANDEYA

Abstract
The practice of surrogacy in India was one of the most controversial issues at which health care concerns legislation gender issues economy and human rights intersected at the beginning of the new millennium. One of the reasons why India became a favourite destination for reproductive tourism is associated with the relatively low price of medical services reproductive technologies poor legislation concerning the issue under discussion and poverty that affected women considering offering themselves for surrogacy. Rapid development of fertility clinics and reproductive tourism in India took place simultaneously with the emergence of many ethical and political problems associated with womens bodies reproductive labour commodification social stratification citizenship motherhood and other aspects of the process in question. Although proponents of commercial surrogacy perceived this process as an opportunity for empowerment and reproductive freedom critics considered it the exploitation of women as agents of reproductive labour. The debate on the politics of surrogacy gained even more momentum in light of growing numbers of legal cases child abandonment issues related to citizenship and exploitation of surrogate mothers. This research paper presents a critical examination of the politics of surrogacy in India through the discussion of ethical issues changes in law women’s reproductive rights social inequalities and policy implications up until the year 2020. The paper investigates how surrogacy has become an arena of conflict for state control medical capitalist enterprise patriarchy and feminism as well as looks into the evolution of legislation toward the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill debate.