At least Belgium natives Laurent Ghilain and Peter Meurrens, whose two-plus-year nightmare to bring their newborn son home with them is expected to finally wrap up this weekend, had the option of going to Ukraine to find a surrogate. Gay couples looking to find surrogates in India are about to have the door slammed in their faces.
If a new bill passes India’s legislature, foreigners looking to have women there carry their babies will be subjected to a new series of regulations. Namely, buh-by to your homos.
Gay couples are to be banned from using surrogate mothers in India as part of a clampdown on British “rent-a-womb” tourists. A Bill going through India’s Parliament will reform the £1.5 billion-a-year “baby factory” industry. Indian officials say it is intended to stop vulnerable women being exploited but it will bar all same-sex couples from the private clinics. Single mothers and unmarried couples will be allowed to use surrogates but all Western women will have to prove they cannot bear a child. They will also have to be supported by doctors who will be encouraged to provide counselling for any surrogate mother who suffers from post-natal depression.
I’ll take this unnamed “senior Indian official” at his word, I guess: “We have to look after the interests of our own citizens as well as handle the tricky matter of the sensitivities of these couples who have not been able to have children in the normal way. But above all, we have acted to put some kind of hold on the whole surrogacy issue by banning homosexual couples from coming to India to enter into such deals. The whole business has simply mushroomed over the last seven years and we intend to introduce even tougher laws when we have had time to examine the situation further.” Which won’t place many restrictions on straight parents from paying Indian women to bear their children. Just those disgusting homosexuals.
KHD
While it’s fine to take the Indian officials comments as having some kind of weight, perhaps it’s best to look at the draft of the legislation which does not seem to mention any ban on gay couples. There seems to be a lot of hype over this issue, but no-one has substantiated what exactly about the content of the draft says a flat “no” to gays. Quite the opposite, wording in the draft seems to positively allow for couples who’s relationship or marriage is legal or recognised outside India in the couple’s home country.
If there have been changes to the draft, maybe the media should highlight what they are, and not just attributing them to comments from an unnamed source.
There is a significant difference between social attitudes in India (even amongst officials) and what is actually being proposed as law. More worrying for all concerned should be the proposed requirement that intended parents get advance “permission” from their home country to say that surrogacy is permitted and that any resulting child will definitely get citizenship of that country… That seems a far bigger barrier than whether gay couples fall within the definition of “married” or “couple”.
Tom
Could you have picked a grosser picture? Keep the package wrapped.
Surrogacy - Surrogacy in India - IVF Clinic India - EGG Donors
We do not think it will be band for anyone.