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domingo, 21 de agosto de 2016

BioEdge: The pain of Indian surrogate mothers

The pain of Indian surrogate mothers

by Michael Cook | 20 Aug 2016 |

from the BBC

It’s only anecdotal evidence, but a BBC story from the Indian city of Chennai shows that surrogate mothers feel emotionally traumatized by the wrench of surrendering a child whom they have carried for nine months. The money they earn does not compensate them for this pain. There are a dozen or more clinics in Chennai which broker surrogate babies, employing about 150 surrogate mothers.

S Sumathi, 38, mother of four

I never met the real parents and have no idea who they are. I was still under sedation when they removed the baby. I never set eyes on it. I have no idea whether it's white or black, whether it's Indian or foreigner, I don't even know whether it's a boy or a girl!

When I gained consciousness, my first words to my husband were, 'Did you see the baby? Is it a boy or a girl?' He said he hadn't seen it. I asked my doctor, but she didn't answer my question. 'You are a surrogate mother, you shouldn't ask these questions,' she said. But I want to know about the baby. I want to know where he or she is and what it is studying.

For three months after giving birth, I spent sleepless nights, I would get headaches thinking about the baby and I had to take medicines to calm down.

Every year, on 4 November, the day the baby was born, our family celebrates its birthday. I do all the rituals that I do for my other children. I fast in the morning, I cook payasam [rice pudding] and share it with my family and neighbours, and I visit the temple to pray for the baby's well-being and long life.

Anandi Chelappan, 34, mother of two

I never saw the baby after it was born. I told the doctor that I would like to see it, at least once. But she said, 'No, it will make you feel guilty.' For the first month, I cried a lot but my husband kept reminding me that 'it's not our baby, it belongs to others, we did this for money'.

I understand the child belongs to its parents and I was only renting out my womb, but since I carried it for nine months, it would be nice to get to know the parents. I don't want to interact with the baby, but I just want to see it from a distance. But we no longer speak about the baby at home.

With the money I earned, we managed to pay off all our debts and rented a home on a long-term lease, but the lease runs out next year and I'm thinking about being a surrogate mother for the second time.

Jothi Lakshmi, 30, mother of three boys, 12, 10 and 7

I never laid eyes on the baby and I think maybe it was for the best because if I had seen it, I would have felt very guilty giving it up. But it was hard, I had felt the baby move in my belly, I had become attached to it, and I couldn't see it. It just disappeared.

For about two-three years, I felt very bad and I lost a lot of weight. But now I don't want to see it. At home, we don't talk about it. I even discourage my husband from talking about it because I know it belongs to someone else. I have made peace with myself.

- See more at: http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/the-pain-of-indian-surrogate-mothers/11964#sthash.FPFPp0iu.dpuf

Costa Rica is a small Central American republic of about 4.5 million people which is remarkably stable, compared to other countries in the region. It is one of the few countries in the world without a standing army. Its democratic institutions are robust. A higher proportion of people turn out to vote than in the US. The percentage of seats in parliament held by women is nearly double that of the US – about one-third.

Yet Costa Rica has been dragooned by an international court into enacting legislation which violates its Constitution. In 2000 it became the only country in the world to ban IVF, based on a Supreme Court ruling that this violated a constitutional guarantee to the right to life for the unborn. Last year, after many legal battles, Costa Rica was ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to enact legislation enabling IVF -- against the will of its legislature and Supreme Court. “Seven foreigners are making decisions about human life in Costa Rica,” said one deputy bitterly. After more legal tussles, clinics began offering IVF procedures last month.

Regardless of where one stands on the ethics of IVF, this seems like a low point for respect for democracy. An article in Nature crowed over the victory and said that the next goal must be the legalization of abortion. There’s something quite cynical about this. If the Inter-American Court of Human Rights struck down the death penalty in the US, all Americans would be united in their outrage. Voters in the UK supported Brexit because EU courts were suborning UK legislation, amongst other issues. Yet no one is defending Costa Rica’s right to make up its own mind on controversial bioethical problems.

This is The Mouse That Roared with an unhappy ending.