From Surrogacy to Parenthood

The US and India are the only two countries that offer surrogacy to same-sex couples as found out recently by an Isreali gay couple who hired a surrogate mother to deliver their child in India. Today, both of them are proud fathers of a baby boy born October 12 this year in Mumbai. For more on the story, click here.

An interesting paradox. On the one hand, India is still reeling under the draconian law, the Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalizes homosexual act if not homosexuality itself. On the other hand, the country has a law that allows gay couples to become fathers through surrogacy, thanks to the guidelines laid down by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) in 2002. This law allows Indian clinics to treat same-sex couples with donor egg IVF and surrogacy. In fact, India’s surrogacy program is a huge hit internationally what with less cumbersome paperwork, cheap costs and easy availability of surrogate mothers.

The only concern that medical experts have had over the years is whether children raised by gay and lesbian couples are disadvantaged by that fact alone. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine has repeatedly stated that there is no persuasive evidence to suggest any such disadvantage. Phew! Gay couples can now seek hot spots such as India to avail joys of parenthood. Interesting.