This House would lift the ban on commercial surrogacy in India.

ethics

India banned commercial surrogacy in 2021 after a decade as the global hub. The ban removed an income source for thousands of women; it also closed off practices critics called exploitative. Two real harms in tension.

Background

India's commercial surrogacy market was estimated at $400-500M annually before the 2015 partial ban and 2021 full ban. Anand, Gujarat became known as the "surrogacy capital of the world" with the Akanksha Hospital running over 1,000 deliveries. Most surrogates earned ₹3-5 lakh per delivery, equivalent to 5-7 years of typical agricultural wages.

Post-ban, demand shifted to less-regulated jurisdictions: Mexico, Cyprus, Georgia, and increasingly Ukraine before 2022. Indian women still take work in those markets, with fewer legal protections. The Indian regulation framework now permits only altruistic surrogacy by close relatives; a narrowing that critics argue eliminates the practice in name but pushes it underground. Defenders point to the 2010 Anita Pant case, where a surrogate died from postpartum complications without contractually-required medical follow-up.

Government opens with

Prohibition pushes the practice underground without reducing demand; regulation is safer.

Opposition responds with

The Indian pre-ban market did not produce informed consent at the rates regulation requires.