TOO LITTLE ALTRUISM TO START WITH: GOVERNMENT’S OVER OPTIMISTIC VIEW OF PEOPLE CREATES A PESSIMISTIC SITUATION FOR SURROGATES

Abstract

The word ‘surrogacy’ has been derived from the Latin term ‘surrogatus’ meaning substitution, and hence refers to a practice whereby a woman gives birth to a child for another couple, substituting the intended mother’s womb. If the woman agrees to act as a surrogate in return of some payment other than medical expenses, it is termed as commercial surrogacy and altruistic surrogacy otherwise; that is, in case of no monetary incentive. Surrogacy also differs based on the procedure. In gestational surrogacy, the woman only provides her womb and is not genetically related to the child whereas in case of traditional surrogacy, the woman provides her womb along with eggs and is the genetic mother of the child. The act of carrying a child for nine long months has special and sacred connotations attached to it and is perceived as an immensely emotional and momentous phenomenon. Therefore, such a practice wherein the defining act of a mother is substituted, the practice itself becomes a matter of debate in terms of morality, swinging between the reduction of a female body to merely bearing children and the right to do whatever with one’s body. The aspect of putting a monetary value in cases of commercial surrogacy does not make it any less controversial. In India, surrogacy is greatly stigmatized and forming laws to regulate it efficiently and justly is a complex duty.