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A Case for Restrictive Regulation of Surrogacy? An Indo-Israeli Comparison of Ethnographic Studies

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Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation

Abstract

In this chapter, I compare qualitative research, primarily from ethnographic studies of surrogacy in two countries where it is regulated and practiced differently: Israel and India. My aim is to contribute to surrogacy-related policy discussions by comparatively analysing empirical work by sociologists and anthropologists on transnational Indian surrogacy with my own work on surrogacy in Israel. I ask: What are the main themes that arise from the ethnographic comparison of surrogacy research in Israel and India and how might these themes translate into more informed policy considerations? Can ethnographic conclusions help us formulate empirically-based criteria towards regulating surrogacy, and could restrictive regulation of surrogacy create the grounds for a more ethical practice?

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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my husband, Avi Solomon, for his comments and suggestions on multiple versions of this manuscript. I would also like to thank Diane L. Wolf, who first inspired me to think about surrogacy in Israel and India comparatively at a conference she organised at UC Davis in 2009. I also thank Zsuzsa Berend for always inspiring me to think about surrogacy in a comparative framework and the anonymous reviewer of this chapter for the helpful suggestions and comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel

    Elly Teman

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  1. Elly Teman
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Sayani Mitra

  2. Department of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, University Medical Center Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Silke Schicktanz

  3. Department of Sociology, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Tulsi Patel

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Teman, E. (2018). A Case for Restrictive Regulation of Surrogacy? An Indo-Israeli Comparison of Ethnographic Studies. In: Mitra, S., Schicktanz, S., Patel, T. (eds) Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78670-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78670-4_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78669-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78670-4

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