Complaints Arise From India's Surrogacy Arrangements

Myleen and Jan Sjodin with Baby Amari



Joining an ever growing chorus of complaints, more couples are speaking out about their negative experiences with Indian surrogacy agencies. Recently, the Los Angeles Times published an article about this growing problem, highlighting couples who have had very serious problems with Indian surrogacy clinics.







Myleen Sjodin and her husband Jan, both of Toronto, Canada were elated to become parents through surrogacy after Myleen having survived uterine cancer. They contracted through one of the many Indian surrogacy clinics and after going through all of the process, they learned they were to be parents. According to the Times article "It all turned into a nightmare as the doctor hiked her fees just before the baby was born, hitting them at their psychologically weakest point. She also didn't pay outside hospital bills and tried to use India's infamous bureaucracy to delay their homecoming." "We were robbed of our joy as first-time parents," Jan Sjodin said.







They felt fearful that they may have problems with customs and the hospital so they paid the extra $7,000 in fees and left quickly. Myleens' motivation for speaking out is that other intended parents don't get manipulated. She says "I love Indian culture and we thought we were getting a good deal, but in the end we've paid nearly as much as doing it in the U.S."

Other problems with Indian surrogacy involve citizenship, such as the 2008 case of the Japanese baby, whose parents divorced during the surrogate's pregancy, resulting in the mother giving her up. Baby Manji's citizenship was left ambiguous as Japan refused to recognize her as one of theirs. Last year, a Canadian couple who had contracted with an Indian surrogacy clinic were dumbfounded to learn the twins they had were biologically unrelated to them. Given the vast problems surrounding surrogacy in India, people considering this option are urged to weigh these issues out before pursuing surrogacy outside the US.

Click Here for LA TIMES article.