Surrogacy is a procedure in which a woman agrees to have a baby for another couple. Surrogacy in India has been practised for years. It was first legal for people from other countries to come and find a surrogate mother in India for having a baby. It is, however, now banned. Some types of surrogacy are also banned in India. Surrogacy comes with many legalities now.
Surrogacy is one of the vast procedures of infertility treatment. Hence, the surrogacy process cost in India is also on the hefty side. The average cost of surrogacy process costs in India ranges between Rs. 10,00,000 to Rs. 18,50,000.
There are many factors on which this range of surrogacy cost in India will depend. One of them being the type of surrogacy you decide to follow. Based on the type of surrogacy the procedure involved to find the surrogate mother and to impregnate her varies and hence the total cost of surrogacy in India also varies.
Types of Surrogacy
Surrogacy can be characterized in the following ways:
- Traditional Surrogacy: In traditional surrogacy, the eggs of a surrogate mother is fertilised by the sperm of the intended father. In this case, the surrogate mother is the biological mother of the baby. It is now banned in India.
- Altruistic Surrogacy: In an altruistic surrogacy, the surrogate mother is always a family member or close relative or friend of the intended parents [2]. In this type of surrogacy, the surrogate mother doesn’t receive any money for being surrogate. Only her pregnancy, pregnancy are and after pregnancy medical requirements are paid for.
- Gestational Surrogacy: Gestational Surrogacy is a type of surrogacy where the fertilisation of the egg is done through IVF. The egg of the intended mother is fertilised by the sperm of the intended father by In vitro fertilisation (IVF) process. The fertilised egg is then inserted into the uterus of the surrogate mother for carrying the pregnancy.
- Independent Surrogacy: If a surrogate mother is working independently without the support of any agency or organisation it is called independent surrogacy.
Legal issues you should know before opting for surrogacy in India
Before you choose to go for surrogacy in India there are some points that you should know for a seamless surrogacy experience.
- Commercial Surrogacy in which surrogacy is done for the gain of money or a reward is banned in India
- You can only go for altruistic surrogacy in India which can be via gestational surrogacy also
- India also prohibits surrogacy for the purpose of prostitution, exploitation of children, sale, etc
- Both the intended parents and surrogate mother will have to qualify some criteria decided by the government to be deemed eligible for the surrogacy process in India
Legalities surrounding the intended parents for surrogacy
In order to be eligible for the surrogacy procedure, you and your partner will have to abide by the following criteria.
- The couple will need to have a ‘certificate of essentiality’ and ‘certificate of eligibility’ which has to be issued by an appropriate authority
- For the certificate of essentially, you will have to acquire a certificate declaring you and your partner infertile by an appropriate authority, an order of parentage and custody of the surrogacy child by an authority and insurance for over 16 months to cover any complications related to pregnancy
- For the certificate of eligibility, the criteria are mentioned below.
- You and your partner should be Indian citizens
- You should be married to your partner for at least 5 years
- The age of the husband should be between 26 to 55 years
- The age of the wife should be between 23 to 50 years
- You should not have a living surrogate, biological or adopted child. If you do they should be physically or mentally challenged or have a life-threatening disease
Surrogacy process cost in India
As mentioned earlier, the surrogacy process cost in India can range withing Rs. Rs. 10,00,000 to Rs. 18,50,000. This range is because there are many medical and non-medical factors that can increase or decrease the total cost. Some of the factors include the city where you decide to have the surrogacy, the centre charges for surrogacy, the charges of the doctor, any complications during pregnancy, etc.
- You will have first select the surrogate in India and after the election, she may also have to go through a screening process in the center to check if she is in the condition of giving birth to a healthy baby. These test will add up to your total cost.
- Once that is done, you will have to decide on how to want to source the eggs and sperm for the fertilisation process. If you are getting a donor of either the egg or the sperm then that will also increase your total surrogacy process cost in India.
- In the case of gestational surrogacy, the process of IVF itself will increase the total surrogacy process cost in India by Rs. 75,000 to Rs. 2,00,000.