An increasing number of young professional women in India are turning to commercial surrogacy to survive economic hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Times of India (TOI) reported on Monday.
Most of the Indian women turning to surrogacy or donating their eggs for money have reportedly either lost their jobs or had their salaries significantly cut due to economic downturns caused by the pandemic.
The women, described in the article as “mostly professionals in the 25-35 years [age] bracket” and belonging to the Indian “middle class,” cite mounting bills and dependent families as the main reasons why they have chosen to work as surrogates or egg donors in recent months. Traditionally, India’s commercial surrogacy industry has attracted poor, uneducated women with few other means of earning a living.
On average in India, “a surrogate mother is paid Rs 5 lakh [$6,689] while an oocyte (egg) donor earns anywhere between Rs 75,000 [$1,003] and Rs 1 lakh [$1,338] per donation. Additional costs of food and medicine for the surrogate are also borne by prospective parents,” TOI noted.
One woman referred to as “Mira” in the article worked in “a leading hotel” in the southern city of Hyderabad until the pandemic devastated the hospitality industry this year.
“Once the lockdown hit, we were sent away [from work at the hotel],” 25-year-old Mira told the newspaper. “My salary of Rs 45,000 a month [$602] was cut to just a few thousand overnight. We still don’t know if we’ll ever be called back to work.”
The woman said a friend “who had gone through the process” recommended surrogacy to her as an economic alternative.
“The banks are hounding me for my payments. My family back home (in north India) is dependent on me. I can’t shy away from any opportunity to make money that comes my way,” Mira explained. “At least it isn’t immoral.”
Another woman, referred to as “Gouri,” told TOI that she chose surrogacy as a way to earn money after she lost her job managing a “children’s play zone” due to the pandemic. With her own child to care for plus “bank loans and a husband who has been getting only 25 percent of his salary for four months,” 30-year-old Gouri chose to become a paid surrogate after she says it was recommended to her as an option by a relative. “I am not worried about what people will say. They won’t support me in my tough days,” she says.
A 32-year-old former multiplex manager referred to as “Heena” said she was “terminated” from her job at the movie theater after such facilities were shut down due to the pandemic. Heena was struggling financially when, she said, “a friend suggested oocyte donation. I had immediate bills to pay and it helped me. I hope to find another job soon.”
“Earlier, most women opting to be oocyte donors or surrogates would be from poor backgrounds, but as the economy slowed down [during the pandemic] we are getting calls from many educated women as well,” Dr. Samit Sekhar, the owner and director of an Indian fertility clinic, told TOI. “This trend is seen at both our centers in [the southern Indian cities of] Hyderabad and Bengaluru.”
“India is currently one of only a handful of countries where a woman can be paid to carry another’s child, making it a hub for surrogacy,” Reuters reported in late February when a bill that would restrict the use of surrogacy in India to married couples and single women was approved by India’s cabinet. Under the bill, “married Indian or Indian-origin couples and single, widowed, and divorced women” would be allowed the option of surrogacy to carry a baby. India banned surrogacy for foreigners in 2015.
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