A Suitable Womb

Aspiring gay parents are making their way to Mumbai in search of surrogate mothers

Mumbai’s fertility clinics are seeing a steady run of gay and lesbian couples seeking surrogate mothers. Currently, the bulk of such clients are from countries like France, Spain and Sweden. “But we have also started getting queries from Indian gay couples. The next natural thing for them will be to have children through surrogacy,” says Dr Hrishikesh Pai, an infertility specialist with Lilavati Hospital and vice-president of the Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction.

The trigger for this came late last year when Yonatan and Omer Gher, an Israeli gay couple, got a surrogate baby through a city clinic called Rotunda. The clinic has since claimed to have had over 40 homosexual couples as clients. Surrogate mothers are usually recruited through advertisements in newspapers. The intended parents have to come to India initially for in-vitro fertilisation and the transfer of the embryo to the surrogate mother’s womb. They can then return to their country where regular updates are emailed to them. The newborn is handed over immediately after birth.

Dr Ashok Anand, gynaecology and obstetrics head at Sir JJ Group of Hospitals, says Mumbai’s infertility clinics are sought after because they are less expensive. “It is difficult to estimate how many homosexual couples are going in for it because doctors do not willingly talk about it. Many doctors have issues with such parenting but we will still do it as part of a medical procedure,” he says.

Nitin Karani, trustee, Humsafar Trust and a gay activist, says that only those who can afford it go for it. “The child of a gay couple has to go out and face society and peers. It is natural to have desire for children but it has to be a very mature decision on the couple’s part,” he says.

Ironically, while it is only now that homosexuality has been decriminalised, gays and lesbians becoming parents using surrogate mothers has always been legal. Though no law pertaining to surrogacy exists in India, Indian Council of Medical Research guidelines do not prohibit same sex couples from having surrogate children.

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Haima Deshpande