In Andhra Pradesh Guntur town theres one business which really looks strange, But its a fact as the business is offering services for the couples who dont have kids.The business is named as rent-a-womb which is making a buzz in Guntur town with the advertisements offering services for childless couples.
As the business is making an affirmation to deliver via surrogacy which is being lured to every childless couples through advertisements on webistes,posters, and also through pamphlets,hoardings and even making the mousetrap advertisements on autorickshaws.
With clinics converting it into a commercial activity, the practice of surrogacy — a couple hiring the womb of another woman to bear their child — has now turned into an attractive business proposition from being a secret affair earlier.
The worrying aspect of the trend is that irrespective of norms and health parameters, several women of the region from the underprivileged section of society are being lured by unscrupulous agents to rent their wombs. Predictably, the response is huge. On any day, many childless parents can be seen making enquiries about surrogacy at fertility clinics in Guntur.
“Last year, we performed 10 surrogate deliveries. At present, we are taking care of four such cases and another three are under observation,” Dr S. N. Umashankar, a local In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and surrogacy expert, revealed.
How do they zero in on surrogate mothers who agree to bear the child of other men in their womb? “Commercial advertisements are one way of achieving this. Furthermore, in some cases, relatives of the intending parents act as surrogates out of compassion,” Umashankar disclosed.
“In some instances, mothers themselves come forward to act as surrogates for their daughters,” he added.
These explanations notwithstanding, MAIL TODAY found some fertility clinics seeking the help of agents to search for women willing to become surrogate mothers. “It is a lucrative affair. Parents have to shell out around `6 lakh for a surrogate child, of which up to `2.5 lakh is paid to the surrogate mother. The hospital charges `3 lakh for conducting the procedure as well as for the pre and postnatal care of the surrogate mother. In addition to this, the agent pockets around `50,000 for providing the proxy mother,” a source said. Significantly, agents scour the lower middle- class strata of society to hunt for surrogate mothers.
The commonest candidates are women desperately in need of money. “2.5 lakh is a substantial amount for the poor. The deal is that if a woman can bear with the inconvenience of pregnancy for nine months, there is good money to be made,” the source pointed out. Sometimes, surrogate mothers themselves double as agents to convince their sisters or other relatives to undergo the procedure for a fast buck, sources said.
Dr M. Gopi Naik, district medical and health officer, Guntur, admitted that surrogacy was turning into a money- making venture in the district. “It has come to our notice that agents, particularly registered medical practitioners in villages, are luring poor women to act as surrogate mothers by offering them financial incentives,” he conceded.
A surrogate mother currently under observation at Umashankar’s clinic admitted that financial needs compelled her to lend her womb. “ My husband and family are supporting me and I have done it willingly,” the woman said.
In January 2011, the police in Burgampahad in Khammam district unearthed a racket in which some agents lured a Muslim woman — Shahnaz of Sarapaka village — into becoming a surrogate mother by offering her `2.5 lakh. She agreed to bear the child and even reached a fertility clinic in Hyderabad.
She agreed to bear the child and even reached a fertility clinic in Hyderabad. But her husband, S.K. Shareef, filed a complaint with the police, stating that some agents were forcing his wife into surrogacy.
Eight persons, including two registered medical practitioners acting as middlemen in the racket, were arrested.
In spite of that Shareef has to easeoff his wife becoming a surrogate mother because she had already conceived and at the same time he too was fascinated towards the big money.
