India: Report and Film on Commercial Surrogacy

Sama Resource Group for Women and Health, Delhi is happy to announce the release of,

1.‘Birthing a Market’, a report on the study on commercial surrogacy undertaken by Sama. The study analyses the perspectives of various actors, surrogates, agents, doctors and commissioning parent, involved in the industry and the arrangements to establish the position of the surrogate in the arrangement as well as the logics driving the industry. The research was conducted in Delhi and Punjab and captures the variations in the industry across the regions. The study does a careful analysis of the medical practice and the interests that influence it.

The context in which women are increasingly choosing to enter the industry as well as the various accompanying ideological tropes in practice are highlighted to better understand their choices and unearth the ways in which the arrangements embody both relations of domination as well as possible subversion. The study brings to fore a critique of the practice by raising questions regarding women’s work, the public health system in India and medical ethics in private health care. This critique is situated within the debates of women’s autonomy and organization of care in the current political economy of a transnational industry.

 

2.“CAN WE SEE THE BABY BUMP PLEASE?† is a 43 minutefilm on commercial surrogacy in India, that explores questions and concerns through the experiences of surrogate women. The film’s narrative traces the ethical challenges, medical malpractice, and potential exploitation that can occur when surrogacy is practiced in a legal vacuum, while also highlighting and understanding the interplay of surrogate women’s choices, contexts and compulsions.

Directed by Surabhi Sharma

Produced by Sama – Resource Group for Women and Health

Executive Producer- Magic Lantern Foundation

Funded by- UNFPA, India

For more details contact:

Sama- Resource Group for Women and Health, B-45, 2nd Floor, Main Road Shivalik, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi-110017 | Email: sama.womenshealth@gmail.com | Website: http://www.samawomenshealth.org