Surrogacy and its related issues in Indian

society

The world today, in which we are living has become more mechanical
due to the development in the technology and many other factors which
influence it. Now a days, many people are turning out to be mechanical
both mentally and physically. This may be due to work burden and rapid
development of the society. This imbalances their hormones resulting in
various problems, physically and mentally. These problems might
change the innate nature of these people, as we see in case of infertile
couples.
According to nature’s rule, all living organisms are born on this earth in
order to transfer their traits to their offspring; helping in creating a new
generation and in continuing the existence of their specie in this world.
In order to transfer their own traits to their offspring, the living
organisms should undergo the process of sexual intercourse and should
have the ability to nurture and give birth to their young ones.
But, in recent times, the people are becoming incapable of nurturing and
giving birth to their offspring. This has disappointed many infertile
couples. In order to subdue this situation, they have started adopting
unnatural/artificial means of giving birth to their young ones through
‘Assisted Reproductive Technology’.

The practice of ‘Surrogacy’ is one among those Assisted Reproductive

Technology. It is the process where a woman agrees to rent her womb to
nurture and develop the embryo of the infertile couples for a
consideration. It is usually a reward which can be monetary in nature.
Surrogacy has been considered valid according to the Assisted
Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill - 2014, which has now
become a part of cabinet note.
Basically, there are two types of surrogacy, Altruistic surrogacy and
Commercial surrogacy. Altruistic surrogacy is a traditional type of
surrogacy wherein the surrogate mother does not receive any financial
reward for her pregnancy from genetic parents, except necessary
medical expenses. In commercial surrogacy, the surrogate mother is paid
over and above medical expenses. Surrogacy has its own pros and cons.
Advantages attained through the practice of surrogacy can be seen
particularly in commercial surrogacy. The infertile couples can fulfill
their need for offspring and at the same time the surrogate mother gains
rewards by accepting to rent her womb; which will help her in meeting
the basic needs of her livelihood without any investments.
But, there are lots of disadvantages through this practice of surrogacy.
This can be seen in both the types of surrogacy. Though, infertile
couples obtain their genetically similar offspring from the method of
surrogacy, the psychological aspect of surrogate mother such as her
emotions, feelings and thinking perspective would have influenced a lot
on the offspring. This could also become an inbuilt behavior of the
offspring and affect his personality when he grows up. As it is difficult
to control all these emotions of a surrogate mother, it can result as a
major disadvantage if her feelings, emotions and thinking aspect are in a
negative way.
There are also some cases where a single parent obtains his offspring
through this method of surrogacy. In this the surrogate mother along
with renting her womb, she also donates her ovum for the formation of
zygote and embryo. Yes, by this method a single parent can obtain his
offspring without any formalities like any marriage or sexual
intercourse. But, this can also raise another problem of single parenting.
This is difficult and challenging task for that parent. It has adverse
impact on that child’s future if the parenting is not done in a right way.
Parenting is not an easy task, it includes a lot of responsibility. If a
parent is single, it adds on to his burden. They have to satisfy the
economic needs of the family along with looking after their child. Single
parents usually get more attached to the child. Due to this, that child
becomes more mature and disciplined. This character at such a young
age, makes him unable to interact with his peers and friends and also
with the people of the society. This creates a feeling of abandonment,
loneliness and isolation in the child, harming his mental health. So, there
are very few chances of success in the situation of single parenting. At
the same time if this continues in the society, the way in which a woman
will be portrayed in the society is unimaginable.
She loses her respect, dignity, modesty and almost her existence itself.
She will be treated as a machine or an instrument to produce children
and to satisfy the men’s sexual needs in the society. All the gender
equality, respect, equal rights; of women for which people are fighting
now to attain it at the fullest; will be vanished just like that with a snap
of fingers; if this practice continues in the society. The modesty of
women will be harmed. There will be no value for women in the society.
This can have dangerous impacts on society resulting in increase in rate
of female foeticides, marital rapes, domestic violence, sexual
harassment, gender inequality; in the society. It reduces the quality of
human resources in the society. It reduces their productivity and harms
each and every field of the society including the economy of the country
resulting in a poor quality of society. This also creates imbalance
between the gender, which in turn imbalances the environment. Thus
these practices go against the nature rules.

Hence, there is humungous disadvantage from practicing surrogacy,

when compared to the advantage we get from it. Thus, it is better to opt
for other ways of techniques such as adopting an orphan child. That
child at least gets a better life, he gets his lost parents to look after him,
he would know the value of parents and their care. This situation helps
him to make use of the available opportunity in a positive and a good
way. This helps in creating a bright future for that child as well as
improving the quality of human resources by preventing poverty.