By Aneesa Malik
Women in the UK -unable to conceive a child, have opted to travel over 7, 000 miles, for an Indian woman to give birth to their child.
Frustrated by strict Western guidelines on surrogate births, Britons who cannot fall pregnant naturally or via IVF treatment are choosing to pay an Indian woman to have their children through a “wombs for hire” type system.
Michael, a 62-year-old GP and Veronica, 33 could not have children of their own as Veronica was born with an abnormally small uterus. The couple tried IVF four times, but each attempt failed.
“She shed so many tears,” says Michael, “Because I am a doctor, I could see her result on the computer so I was the one who always had to break it to her. If she saw me turn up with flowers and a bottle of wine, she knew the results were not good.”
The couple finally resigned themselves to living without children – until last summer when they heard of the Akanksha Infertility Clinic, where up to 100 Indian women at any time carry the children of Western clients. Michael and Veronica signed up.
More childless couples are making the same decision. Since surrogacy was first regulated in Britain in 1985, according to The Telegraph, only about 50 couples a year have chosen to ask another woman to carry their child. But the rate has quadrupled in the past six years, as a growing number of older couples opt for surrogacies. Although only 203 surrogate babies were recorded in Britain last year, social workers say this understates the true figure, as many couples do not apply for the parental order that grants them official status as parents.
Britain bans commercial surrogacy to prevent exploitation. Typically, surrogates are friends or family, or strangers kept on registers with long waiting lists.
But more than a quarter of British couples are now bypassing the law to find surrogate mothers overseas, where they pay up to £50,000 per baby. India is the most popular country, largely because its clinics charge less than half the rate demanded in America.
