Abstract
This article looks at the boom in outsourced, international-assisted reproduction, as shown in websites, literature and films from India and Latin America. It analyses assisted reproduction websites aimed at international clients, alongside texts such as Shoojit Sircar’s Vicky Donor (2012) and Rocío Vásquez de Velasco’s short story “Vientre de alquiler”. Tensions explode the myth of family-making via the “gift” of reproductive material, or the “loan” of a womb, especially when these “gifts” and “loans” follow an all-too familiar north-to-south colonial circuit.
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- 1.
In this case, unlike Aamir Khan’s son, the news was also accompanied by widespread rumours of illegal gender selection.
- 2.
The booming industry in India has suffered a recent setback with a 2013 legislation prohibiting the once lucrative surrogacy business for gay couples and single people. At the same time, loosening restrictions in Mexico have opened up the market in Latin America beyond Guatemala: one medical tourism portal in February 2013 proclaimed, “So long surrogacy in India. Hello surrogacy in Mexico and Thailand!” (Planet Hospital).
- 3.
Among Dutta’s eager commentarists volunteering to donate (or sell) sperm, is one Rananjay Kumar Rai, who writes on July 8, (2012): “I am a development professional (MBA) and living nearby in Patna. I want to donate my sperm to make happy millions of people who are suffering from infertility problems”. The idea of millions of people sharing the same genetic father opens up a problem unaddressed at the end of Vicky Donor, with his crowd of babies, and presents a new challenge for the human race.
- 4.
“Global Giving” from another perspective is an odd sponsor for a for-profit business like this one. It defines itself as a charity fund raising website—something like kick-starter—where grassroots organizations can propose projects for charitable giving: “Global Giving is full of solutions. Solutions run by innovative, grassroots projects and organizations that are working to educate children, feed the hungry, build houses, train women (and men) with job skills, and hundreds of other amazing things”. It is interesting to speculate in what sense a paid surrogacy business can define itself as a charity.
- 5.
One well-documented case is that of Susan Ring, who was impregnated with a donor egg. During her pregnancy, the couple divorced and decided they no longer wanted the children she was carrying. Ring sued for custody, then placed the twins for adoption (Adams 2003). Another case, cited by Dan O’Connor (2013), involves a surrogate who was carrying a foetus found to have birth defects; the genetic parents wanted her to abort; she refused to do so, though she later repented when the incentive to abort went up to a $10,000 bonus.
- 6.
Hochschild talks about the challenge for some biological parents who, following upon this language of altruism, imagine that they might be able to create a bond with the surrogate who is carrying their child, only to find the linguistic and cultural barriers too high a bar (2012, p. 80).
- 7.
Even cautionary tales are good press. In the NPR interview from 2010, Frank comments that Patel’s clinic jumped from 70 to 300 surrogates in the 3 years since her film was made.
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Filmography
Abbas-Mustan, dirs. 2001. Chori Chori Chupke Chupke. Adlabs Films.
Edelman, Shane, dir. 2005. Love for Rent. Miami LA Entertainment.
Frank, Zippy Brand, dir. 2009. Google Baby. Films Transit International.
Gulzar, Meghna, dir. 2002. Filhaal. Dharma Productions.
Haimowitz, Rebecca and Vaishali Sinha. dirs. 2010. Made in India: A Film About Surrogacy. Chicken and Egg Pictures.
McCullers, Michael, dir. 2008. Baby Mama. Universal Pictures.
Mujer comprada. 2009–2010 Mexico: TV Azteca.
Perez, Gloria with Leila Miccoli. 1990–1991. Barriga de aluguel. Brazil: Rede globo.
Porey, Samrruddhi, dir. 2011. Mala Aai Vhhaychy! Deven Murudeshwar studio.
Sircar, Shoojit, dir. 2012. Vicky Donor. Mumbai: Eros Entertainment.
Tandon, Lekh, dir. 1983. Doosri Dulhan. Mumbai: Dharampal Gupta prod.
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Castillo, D.A. (2016). “Googling Baby”. In: Bhaduri, S., Mukherjee, I. (eds) Transcultural Negotiations of Gender. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2437-2_20
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