Surrogacy

Description

Although estimated as a multi-billion dollar industry, surrogacy has still not found prominence in legislation in India, neither does it feature in the nation’s public discourse. This short introduction explores how surrogacy is practiced and understood in India and across the world. Why is a surrogate hired? Why does a woman carry a child for an infertile couple? Why is there a need to delve deeper into the motivations for and notions attached with entering a surrogacy arrangement for all involved?

This book focuses on the relationship between surrogacy and issues of reproduction, kinship, women’s bodies, assisted reproductive technologies, and transnational reproductive tourism. At the same time it places surrogacy in the context of mythology, popular imagination, and legal and public discourses. In exploring the differences between various forms of surrogacy—commercial and altruistic, genetic and gestational, domestic and transnational—the book seeks to move beyond these opposing dualities and begin a dialogue regarding the practice.

About the Author

Anindita Majumdar teaches sociology at Department of Liberal Arts, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad.

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. The Technology: How In Vitro Fertilization Works in Commercial Surrogacy
3. The Surrogate Mother: Contractual Labour as Selfless Mothers
4. The Parents: Kinship in the Making
5. The Law: Making Legislative Sense of the Surrogacy Arrangement 
6. Conclusion

 References

Further Readings

Index

About the Author