Julien Ducenne/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by-nc-nd)
The Indian industry of commercial surrogacy has often been called exploitative for ‘commodifying’ the bodies of women in the global south. Activists and policymakers in India have debated the practice at great length in recent years, with many promoting either strict regulations or a complete ban on surrogacy for overseas clients. Such discussions around commercial surrogacy, however, revolve around the rights of all the relevant actors when things go ‘right’—i.e. what should happen in the course of a regular surrogacy arrangement involving recruitment, conception, gestation, and relinquishment. What often fails to be considered are the ‘failures’ occurring during the course of the process itself. Not all in vitro fertilisations (IVF) performed as part of the commercial surrogacy process result in successful pregnancy conceptions; and not all surrogate conceptions lead to childbirth. But a systematic silence around missed conceptions, miscarriages, foetal reductions, selective abortions, foetal deaths, and even the deaths of surrogates prevents these possibilities from becoming relevant factors in the surrogacy decision making process.
The Indian surrogacy industry constructs, as part of its marketing strategy, a narrative of ‘success’ that deliberately suppresses the possibility of failure. This makes it unlikely that intended parents will give these issues due consideration. The exaggerated success rates and stories of success that dominate the websites of Indian surrogacy clinics and agencies offer a sense of security to the intended parents, establishing their faith in the technocracies involved in surrogacy. At the same time, assurances of success from ex-surrogates convince potential surrogates to take up surrogacy and re-plan their future around its outcome.
