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Surrogate Mothers and Gay Fathers: Navigating the Commercial Surrogacy Arrangement in India

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Intimate Economies

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Globalization and Embodiment ((PSGE))

Abstract

The commercial surrogacy arrangement in India brings together diverse sets of people in the process of making a child. The Indian surrogate mother incubates an artificially fertilized pregnancy for an Indian or overseas couple in an Indian IVF (in vitro fertilization) clinic and then relinquishes the child as per the contract. But the process of commercial gestational surrogacy involves many forms of negotiations over relationships and identity that complicate its actual execution. This paper explores the Indian surrogate and the foreign gay couple in their navigation of the surrogacy arrangement in India. In popular representations in the media and policy discussions, they are both caught between questions of reproductive choice and agency, but in reality arrangement is complicated and complicates their role within the arrangement.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities, Manipal University, Manipal, India

    Anindita Majumdar

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  1. Anindita Majumdar
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany

    Susanne Hofmann

  2. Morgan Centre for Research into Everyday Lives, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Adi Moreno

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Majumdar, A. (2016). Surrogate Mothers and Gay Fathers: Navigating the Commercial Surrogacy Arrangement in India. In: Hofmann, S., Moreno, A. (eds) Intimate Economies. Palgrave Studies in Globalization and Embodiment. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56036-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56036-0_9

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-56035-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-56036-0

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