India’s government has instructed fertility clinics not to allow foreigners to use local surrogate mothers to bear children as it seeks to impose tighter limits on a growing industry that has raised concerns about the exploitation of women.
In a letter dated Tuesday, the Indian Council of Medical Research, a government body, said surrogacy services could be provided only to married Indian couples.The letter didn’t address the issue of babies now being carried by surrogate mothers for foreign clients.
The directive, which the council’s chief scientist said had been sent at the behest of the Health Ministry, follows the release of draft legislation by the ministry that would prohibit foreigners, except for those with family origins in India, from employing Indian surrogates.
A Health Ministry spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Laws on surrogacy differ around the world.In some places, including Germany and France, surrogacy is banned outright.Other countries prohibit payments to surrogates that go beyond compensation for medical expenses.In the U.S., laws on surrogacy vary from state to state.
Thailand, another developing country where surrogacy services had become a growth business, earlier this year passed a law banning commercial surrogacy.
India has become a popular destination for people looking to have children using surrogate mothers, in part because the costs, about *** are relatively low.That compares with about *** in the U.S., according to The Lancet, a medical journal.
In India, a surrogate mother earns about *** in the U.S.a surrogate receives around *** according to The Lancet.
India has increasingly restricted surrogacy.In *** the Home Ministry barred gay couples and single people from using Indian surrogates to have children, saying that only heterosexual couples married for more than two years would be given the visas required to do so.
Tuesday’s letter from the medical research council’s head scientist, Radhey Sharma, told fertility clinics “not to entertain any foreigners for availing surrogacy services in India.”
Mr.Sharma declined to say whether couples awaiting the birth of babies via surrogates would be affected by the directive.
On Thursday, the U.S.Embassy in New Delhi issued a notice warning Americans to exercise caution if pursuing surrogacy services in India.
After the Home Ministry declared that gay couples and single people couldn’t use surrogates in India, people whose embryos were already in gestation were permitted to continue with the process.
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