Why India’s illegal surrogate industry needs to be regulated

(By Health.India.com) : Sir Robert Edwards – the father of the In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)who passed away two days ago would never have imagined the worldwide repercussions of his invention. While IVF has given children to thousands who never thought they would have children, it has also exploited thousands of women in poor countries who’ve been forced to be surrogate mothers because of their poor financial situation.
Couples from Edwards’ native Britain along with Americans are coming in droves to India to hire women as surrogate mothers. Indian clinics offer them services at a fraction of what it costs in the UK or the USA and due to this India have been unofficially christened the Surrogacy Capital of the World It’s estimated this illegal industry is worth Rs 13033 crore. And it’s an industry which is dependent on vulnerable, financially-poor women.