Commodification of the Womb: Problematising Issues of Surrogacy in India

The World celebrated when in 2002 surrogacy became legalised in India and the country became a commercial hub for the attainment of motherhood at a comparatively lower cost. Surrogacy in India, therefore, attracted critical attention due to the over commodification of the trade as numerous commercial surrogacy agencies were exploiting the vulnerability of poor women in India. However, the ordeals of surrogacy endowed many women with a silver-lining, as surrogacy became the only source of economic sustainability in empowering their lives. There was also an urgent need expressed by feminist activists to guarantee ethics, morality, and medical intervention for the surrogates.Therefore, the Government of India introduced Altruistic surrogacy through Surrogacy (Regulation) Act in 2021. However, the introduction of Altruistic surrogacy lessened the scope of empowerment for the surrogate workers whose only mode of survival depended on this industry. This paper seeks to explore the existing legal provisions, the concepts of social accountability and the epistemological premises of the surrogacy industry in India by reconceptualizing a future for both the surrogates and the commissioning parents, with increased awareness and activism sustaining the ethics and morality of the practice.