India is rapidly becoming a global centre for assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) for a multitude of reasons. A new academic study ‘Globalisation of Birth Markets: A Case Study of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India’ places the biogenetic industry within the larger political economy framework of globalisation and privatisation, as this framework has direct and significant bearings on the ART industry in India.
India is rapidly becoming a global centre for assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) for a multitude of reasons. A new academic study ‘Globalisation of Birth Markets: A Case Study of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India’ places the biogenetic industry within the larger political economy framework of globalisation and privatisation, as this framework has direct and significant bearings on the ART industry in India.
The authors argue, “As markets for human organs, tissues and reproductive body parts experience unprecedented growth, the limits of what can or should be bought and sold continue to be pushed. As such, bodies have emerged as sale-worthy economic capital. Commercial flows of reproductive material create and deploy the division of the body into parts over which ownership is claimed, in the process following ‘modern routes of capital’ and raising issues of structural inequality.”
This paper presents a brief picture of India’s fertility industry with specific focus on its ground-level operation, nature and growth. It aims to explore the industry dimensions of ARTs, by highlighting the macro picture of health care markets and medical tourism in India, the proliferation of the ART industry, market features such as the social imperative to mother, costs, promotion and marketing, unverified claims, inflated success rates, deals and offers, involved organisations and collaborations in this area, and finally, the absence of standards.
This paper presents findings from the research ‘Constructing Conceptions: The Mapping of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India’, by Sama, a Delhi-based resource group working on gender, health and rights. This research was conducted from 2008 to 2010 in the three states of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu in India, and is one of the first of its kind, highlighting what the authors claim to be unethical medical practices and making a case for the regulation of the ART industry.
The research forms a significant part of Sama’s ongoing work on women and health. Sama is an Indian autonomous women’s movement and seeks to locate the concerns of women’s health and well being in the larger context of socio-historical, economic and political realities. Sama considers health a fundamental human right and believes that the provision of quality and affordable health care to every citizen is the responsibility of the state.
Sama believes that equality and empowerment can be ensured only when poverty, curtailment of capabilities, lack of livelihood rights, lack of health services and access to health care, illiteracy and multiple forms of discrimination based on caste, class, gender religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation and many other rubrics are structurally challenged. The word Sama means equality in Sanskrit, Hindustani and other Indian languages.
The article repeats Sama’s desire for a comprehensive legal framework. In the proposed Draft Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill and Rules-2010, prepared by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a substantial section is devoted towards regulating surrogacy arrangements. Though a welcome step, Sama argues that significant gaps in the protection of surrogate women and children still remain.
With recent and controversial cases of international surrogacy that have resulted in legal battles for citizenship status for the child/ren, the Bill has made provisions to address this issue. The draft Bill now makes it mandatory for foreign couples to produce a certificate from their countries declaring that the respective countries permit surrogacy, and that the child will be considered a legal citizen. As an increasing number of couples from other countries access surrogacy services in India, such a provision will be a useful legal framework. Sama argues that while legislation to regulate the untrammeled commercialism of ARTs and surrogacy in India is a much-needed step towards checking unethical medical practice, the human rights of the surrogate and the children – legal, financial, and health-related – need to be better protected.
Authors- Sarojini N, Vrinda Marwah, Anjali Shenoi
‘Globalisation of Birth Markets: A Case Study of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India’
Journal: Globalization and Health 2011, 7:27 – published on: 2011-08-12
India is rapidly becoming a global centre for assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) for a multitude of reasons. A new academic study ‘Globalisation of Birth Markets: A Case Study of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India’ places the biogenetic industry within the larger political economy framework of globalisation and privatisation, as this framework has direct and significant bearings on the ART industry in India.
India is rapidly becoming a global centre for assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) for a multitude of reasons. A new academic study ‘Globalisation of Birth Markets: A Case Study of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India’ places the biogenetic industry within the larger political economy framework of globalisation and privatisation, as this framework has direct and significant bearings on the ART industry in India.
The authors argue, “As markets for human organs, tissues and reproductive body parts experience unprecedented growth, the limits of what can or should be bought and sold continue to be pushed. As such, bodies have emerged as sale-worthy economic capital. Commercial flows of reproductive material create and deploy the division of the body into parts over which ownership is claimed, in the process following ‘modern routes of capital’ and raising issues of structural inequality.”
This paper presents a brief picture of India’s fertility industry with specific focus on its ground-level operation, nature and growth. It aims to explore the industry dimensions of ARTs, by highlighting the macro picture of health care markets and medical tourism in India, the proliferation of the ART industry, market features such as the social imperative to mother, costs, promotion and marketing, unverified claims, inflated success rates, deals and offers, involved organisations and collaborations in this area, and finally, the absence of standards.
This paper presents findings from the research ‘Constructing Conceptions: The Mapping of Assisted Reproductive Technologies in India’, by Sama, a Delhi-based resource group working on gender, health and rights. This research was conducted from 2008 to 2010 in the three states of Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu in India, and is one of the first of its kind, highlighting what the authors claim to be unethical medical practices and making a case for the regulation of the ART industry.
The research forms a significant part of Sama’s ongoing work on women and health. Sama is an Indian autonomous women’s movement and seeks to locate the concerns of women’s health and well being in the larger context of socio-historical, economic and political realities. Sama considers health a fundamental human right and believes that the provision of quality and affordable health care to every citizen is the responsibility of the state.
Sama believes that equality and empowerment can be ensured only when poverty, curtailment of capabilities, lack of livelihood rights, lack of health services and access to health care, illiteracy and multiple forms of discrimination based on caste, class, gender religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation and many other rubrics are structurally challenged. The word Sama means equality in Sanskrit, Hindustani and other Indian languages.
The article repeats Sama’s desire for a comprehensive legal framework. In the proposed Draft Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill and Rules-2010, prepared by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a substantial section is devoted towards regulating surrogacy arrangements. Though a welcome step, Sama argues that significant gaps in the protection of surrogate women and children still remain.
With recent and controversial cases of international surrogacy that have resulted in legal battles for citizenship status for the child/ren, the Bill has made provisions to address this issue. The draft Bill now makes it mandatory for foreign couples to produce a certificate from their countries declaring that the respective countries permit surrogacy, and that the child will be considered a legal citizen. As an increasing number of couples from other countries access surrogacy services in India, such a provision will be a useful legal framework. Sama argues that while legislation to regulate the untrammeled commercialism of ARTs and surrogacy in India is a much-needed step towards checking unethical medical practice, the human rights of the surrogate and the children – legal, financial, and health-related – need to be better protected.
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