In February 2015, news reports in India focused on a Supreme Court directive to the Union government to respond to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on commercial surrogacy. There were two other stories that grabbed attention in the same month: one, a woman in Meerut alleged that she was beaten up by her employer for refusing to carry his surrogate baby; and two, a girl from Jharkhand was forced to act as a surrogate mother in Delhi, who delivered six babies who were all sold off by traffickers. Notwithstanding this spate of negative news, surrogacy has also been portrayed favourably in the media. In 2007, the Oprah Winfrey Show featured an American couple who had travelled to Anand, Gujarat, for surrogacy, calling it a "beautiful" example of "women helping women". In the last few years, even Indian celebrities like Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan have had babies through surrogacy, and this has been lauded in the media as inspirational.
Rather than these polarised representations, what is needed is a more cautious reporting on the industry, highlighting its ethical and legal dilemmas. What can we make of this new and booming business that is surrogacy? What constitutes its labour force? Can we think of surrogates as performing remunerative reproductive labour, an activity not necessarily recognised as such in relation to childbirth within marriage? How do we position our responses? It is critical to raise these questions today, especially when one considers that the regulatory framework for this industry in India – including the rights and duties of the various parties – is yet to be finalised. It is time to reflect on the need for regulation and the kind of regulation we want. And in order to do so, we have to be able to understand the key issues in this burgeoning industry. This is especially important in the context of Southasia, given the ease with which the industry can shift or informally expand, (and is indeed shifting and expanding to countries like Nepal), if the regulatory environment is seen as too strict in one country.