Reshma (name changed), age 35, gives me a dazzling smile. As she settles into the interview, re-adjusting the dupatta on her head, she says, 'I have not done anything wrong, have I?' It is a statement, not a question. Reshma worked briefly as a sweeper at a small private clinic in Jalandhar, Punjab, before she decided to become a surrogate for a Punjabi NRI (non-resident Indian) couple.
Surrogacy, the practice of gestating a child for another couple or individual, involves the use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) – a group of technologies that assist in conception or the carrying of pregnancy to term. These include intra-uterine or artificial insemination, and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), popularly known as 'test-tube baby' technology. ART provision in India has expanded in recent years into a veritable fertility industry. As the country's medical market and medical-tourism industry grows, ARTs have been added to the long list of cheap services that high-tech India is selling to the world. Within this, commercial surrogacy is often portrayed as a win-win situation, seen to give 'desperate and infertile' parents the child they want, and poor surrogate women the money they need.
As Reshma talks, it becomes clear that she opted for surrogacy out of economic necessity. This is important because, while context compels choices, all too often talk about 'choice' obscures the structural forces that influence a decision apparently made freely. Reshma has four children – three daughters and a son. Her husband works as a cook and makes 5000 rupees a month. She wants to get her eldest daughter married and says that she was willing to work anywhere to earn enough to fund the wedding. Apart from hospital expenses that were borne by the commissioning couple, Reshma made INR 150,000 (USD 3266) from the surrogacy.
The lure of big money has been attracting many like Reshma. Jaswinder, 32, wants to be a surrogate. Waiting for a screening at an IVF clinic, she says, 'They have to see if everything is okay with me, only after that will we know if I am right for the job.' Jaswinder has two young sons. Like Reshma, she says she is doing this for her children so that they can have a better life, an education and a home of their own. Her husband and mother-in-law support her decision. Would she not rather look for other work? 'We can't find any work. There is no work in the village,' she says. 'That's why we have taken this decision.'