Analysis Of Wombs In Labor In India

Wombs in Labor Introduction

India: The “Mother Destination: “For Commercial Surrogacy July 26th

Quote “See the Taj Mahal by moonlight while our embryo grows in a Petri- dish”. -Slogan from a reproductive Website” In her book “Wombs in Labor” author Amrita Pande examines the boom of surrogacy in India and the women affected by the booming commercial use of poor woman in India who carry babies for infertile l woman from all over the world as part of a new medical tourism

Pande states India is surrogacy industry is interesting when it comes to surrogacy because it is the first country in the global south to with a flourishing industry in the national and transnational Commercial surrogacy. She states, though the U.S. remains the top global

At the time of recruitment and counseling surrogates are assured their surrogacy does not involve any immoral act like having sex with a client. However, in informal counseling and mentoring surrogates who are business minded and negotiate their own wage are compared to prostitutes.

Although the anomalous process of surrogacy is an ethical quagmire in almost every country, and critical reason for the huge stigma surrounding surrogacy is that many Indians equate surrogacy with sex work. (though it does not involve intercourse.) Pandes says this stigma is due to lack of information made available to the people of India explains the techniques used in surrogacy that now separate pregnancy from intercourse. Popular media also add to the misconception since almost all portrayals of surrogacy in commercial equate surrogacy with

The clinic hires brokers, and middle woman to convince and coerce woman into the stigmatized occupations. Once recruited the surrogates don’t have any choice but live in a hostel or clinic, since many of the surrogates keep their surrogacy secret from their families, husbands and communities, (Some even chose to pretend the baby is their own). Panda states this isolation and secrecy lends compliance of the surrogates, but also adds to the painful experience of choosing to be a surrogate.

Surrogacy as dirty work; pande asserts that the use of stigmatizing tactics of discipline and control surrogates is not restricted to the clinics and hostels. As the surrogates disrupt the gender norms, the get constructed as deviants, management at clinics and hostels use this stigma to ensure surrogates compliance to elevated surveillance during their pregnancy and also to maintain low