The Evening Standard newspaper ran a story recently about British couples buying babies from so called ‘baby making factories’ in India.  When I first saw the headline, I expected that these poor childless couples were adopting homeless orphans and giving them a loving home.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  These couples are actually choosing surrogate mothers to carry their children for them.

Clinics in many parts of India are full of surrogate mothers who have been paid by British couples to carry their offspring.  You would assume that these ‘British couples’ are of Asian descent, but more than half are European and Caucasians.  It is much easier and cheaper for couples in Britain to find surrogate mothers in India as they are more willing because of the money they receive.

For each pregnancy, women in these clinics are paid between £2,500 to £3,500.  This doesn’t seem like a lot of money for a human life, but to these women, this amount is equivalent to ten years worth of wages.  So why wouldn’t they?  Some of these women are even popping out babies once a year and are receiving a regular income by doing this.  Many have even gone further by charging a higher price if they have fair skin, are good looking or have a higher IQ!

There is no legal paperwork to complete or lawyers involved.

But is this moral?  Somehow I don’t think so.  Yes it is very sad that childless couples have to resort to this to become parents, but it seems ironic that there are millions of orphans who are suffering in India, yet we have people who are travelling to India to pick and choose a brand new life.  What if this new baby doesn’t live up to their standards?  Will the couple blame it on the surrogate mother?

There was also the recent case of Rubina Ali - the child star who played Latika in the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire.  She has been born and raised in the real slums of Mumbai and after her success her father Rafiq Qureshi tried to sell her to a News of the World reporter for £200,000.  In the end it comes down to one thing in India:  The lack of money.  Was Rafiq Qureshi trying to sell his daughter to give her a better life and to get her out of the slums? or was the thought of becoming as rich as he ever will be just too tempting?

With children like Rubina, not only in India, but in all third world countries, shouldn’t we be praising stars such as Madonna and Angelina Jolie for giving these poor kids future rather than berating them for doing so?

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