Abstract
This chapter seeks to contextualize Sama’s work on assisted reproductive technologies and commercial surrogacy from a bioethical framework. It discusses several ethical issues that are implicated in this burgeoning industry, the foremost being the stigmatization of childlessness and essentialization of motherhood that push women particularly to access ARTs (Assisted Reproductive Technologies). Secondly, even when regulation was initiated, many countries including India adopt a discriminatory approach to exclude LGBTI people from accessing these technologies and limit them within heteronormative marriage. Thirdly, the use of donor gametes extracted from others and surrogate mothers bearing a pregnancy and contractually relinquishing the child upon birth (with or without a commercial transaction) raises ethical concerns about the commodification and instrumental use of the body and its parts within the ART industry. Fourthly, there remain ethical questions on trade in biological materials that are “leftover” or “surplus”, particularly embryos, and what can be the ethical parameters within which they can be used for further research and experimentation. An understanding of commercial surrogacy in India would be incomplete without discussing what the lack of regulation with regard to the practice of surrogacy has meant for the various actors of this mushrooming industry.
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Notes
- 1.
For over 10 years, Sama, a Delhi-based resource group for women and health, has been engaging with ARTs, raising and addressing concerns around gender and health rights that result from their unchecked proliferation. Sama’s approach to the issues in ARTs has involved responses ranging from community to policy. Previous research initiatives on this issue contributed to unveiling the social, medical, ethical and economic implications of ARTs on the lives of women (ARTs and Women: Assistance in Reproduction or Subjugation?), as well as to deepening the understanding of commercialization of the ART industry as well as issues of access to these technologies in India (Constructing Conceptions: The Mapping of ARTs in India). These have enabled the location of discussions and debates on ARTs within the framework of women’s health, rights and social justice and contributed to consolidation of existing knowledge, understanding and analysis of ARTs, the fertility industry and tourism. Sama has initiated and has been actively involved in ongoing policy advocacy efforts towards informing policy and legislation on the issue. Sama’s work has thrown light on various aspects of this industry and the different actors involved showing different kinds of interactions and interfaces at multiple levels and the changing institutional forms and structures that have impacted the lives and conditions under which women have become a part of this industry.
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Nadimpally, S., Venkatachalam, D. (2018). Ethical Issues and Challenges in Research on Gender, Reproductive Technologies and Market. In: Mishra, A., Subbiah, K. (eds) Ethics in Public Health Practice in India. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2450-5_8
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