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{{short description|Hospital in India}}
The '''Akanksha Infertility Clinic''' is a [[women's health]] centre located in [[Anand, Gujarat|Anand]], [[Gujarat]], [[India]],<ref>Kari Points, [COMMERCIAL SURROGACY AND
FERTILITY TOURISM IN INDIA The Case of Baby Manji https://web.duke.edu/kenanethics/CaseStudies/BabyManji.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002214636/https://web.duke.edu/kenanethics/CaseStudies/BabyManji.pdf |date=2013-10-02 }}], Case Studies in Ethics, The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University</ref> and
headed by Dr '''Nayna Patel'''.<ref>Nita Bhalla and Mansi Thapliyal
Mon Sep 30, 2013, [India seeks to regulate its booming 'rent-a-womb' industry https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-surrogates-idUSBRE98T07F20130930 [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-surrogates-idUSBRE98T07F20130930]], Reuters</ref> The clinic was founded in 1999, and was originally focused on [[In vitro fertilisation|In Vitro Fertilization.]] India declared commercial surrogacy legal in 2002; however the clinic did not begin to do surrogacy until 2004.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://prospect.org/article/childbirth-global-crossroads-0|title=Childbirth at the Global Crossroads|last=Hochschild|first=Arlie|date=September 19, 2009|website=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308231846/http://prospect.org/article/childbirth-global-crossroads-0|archive-date=March 8, 2018|access-date=|url-status=live}}</ref> Patel, who appeared on [[Oprah Winfrey]]'s talk show in 2007, has produced more than 1000 surrogate babies as of October 2015.

Patel states that "we provide a legitimate service to those in need, whether it is the couple who desperately want a child or the woman who wishes to change her circumstances, to educate her children, build a house or pay off debts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ivf-surrogate.com/|title=Akanksha|website=ivf-surrogate.com|access-date=2018-03-08|archive-date=2018-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308232007/http://ivf-surrogate.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>”

==Surrogacy==
This works by the couple going to the clinic, requesting a surrogate, and essentially renting her womb for the next nine months. The surrogate will be implanted with the sperm and egg, and hopefully after having a successful birth, will give up the child to its parents. The women are then paid. Dr. Patel pays her surrogates around 400,000 rupees ($6,500). Couples are charged an average of $25,000 to $30,000 per baby.

Of the women who work as surrogates “nearly half described themselves as housewives and the rest were a mix of domestic, service, and manual laborers<ref name=":0" />” . Most of them are married and have children of their own. They must live at the clinic, are heavily monitored and restricted, and are not allowed sex for the duration of their pregnancy. Their young children are allowed to stay with them, as a way to prevent to the women from getting attached to the baby they are carrying. During their required stay “residents are offered daily English classes and weekly lessons in computer use” and the director “arranges film screenings and gives out school backpacks and pencil boxes to surrogates’ children".<ref name=":0" />

In India, “surrogacy...is slated to add $2 billion to the nation's gross domestic product”.<ref name=":0" /> So the country gets money, the surrogates get the needed money, and a couple gets a baby.

For comparison, in USA, the cost is $150,000, in a handful of states where it is permitted.
For surrogates, the compensation outweighs the downside. A recent surrogate was the wife of an auto-rickshaw driver with three daughters of her own. she had to live in a hostel for nine months with 60 other surrogates so the [[clinic]] could monitor her health.

Akanksha claims an implantation success rate of 44%, similar to other Indian clinics, compared with a US norm of 31%.<ref>Scott Carney, Inside India’s Rent-a-Womb Business https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/surrogacy-tourism-india-nayna-patel?page=2 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413091431/http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/surrogacy-tourism-india-nayna-patel?page=2 |date=2016-04-13 }}, Mother Jones, March/April 2010 Issue</ref>

== Controversy ==

=== Regulations and Rights ===
While surrogacy is legal, it is highly unregulated. There are laws in the progress of being made to attempt to aid the surrogate mothers. However it does “little to improve the life for women” and takes away their rights to decide whether they want an abortion or not.<ref name=":0" /> Another problem is that “lack of regulation could spark a price war for surrogacy”.<ref name=":0" /> This means that other countries could have surrogates willing to be paid a lower wage per baby carried. This leads to surrogate clinics basically competing against other clinics in other countries, creating a “race to the bottom.” If this happens then the protections for surrogate mothers could decrease; “with countries slowly under-cutting fees and legal protections for surrogates along the way”.<ref name=":0" />

There are other cultural consequences as well. Women who are surrogates face the risk and consequences of being rejected from society or being discriminated against. There is another issue, the “dilemma of all rural surrogates: being suspected of adultery -a cause for shunning or worse”.<ref name=":0" />

=== Citizenship ===
There was an issue of the citizenship of children, as many countries do not recognize surrogacy and these babies therefore have no legal standing <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/03/india-surrogate-embryo-ban-hardship-gujarat-fertility-clinic|title=‘We pray that this clinic stays open’: India’s surrogates fear hardship from embryo ban|last=Doshi|first=Vidhi|date=2016-01-03|website=the Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-03-08|archive-date=2018-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309054415/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/03/india-surrogate-embryo-ban-hardship-gujarat-fertility-clinic|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Baby Manji controversy===
A Japanese baby girl born to an Indian surrogate mother was in legal limbo after the couple who had intended to raise her divorced.<ref>Hannah Gardner, [Surrogate baby in legal limbo http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/south-asia/surrogate-baby-in-legal-limbo#ixzz2gP5nCM00 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018170534/http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/south-asia/surrogate-baby-in-legal-limbo#ixzz2gP5nCM00 |date=2013-10-18 }}], The National, August 6, 2008</ref> The three-month-old baby had been unable to leave India after her birth because she holds neither an Indian nor a Japanese nationality. The issue was resolved after the Japanese Government issued a one-year visa to her on humanitarian grounds, after the Indian Government had granted the baby a travel certificate in September in line with a Supreme Court direction.<ref>Press Trust of India, [Baby Manji reaches Osaka http://www.indianexpress.com/news/baby-manji-reaches-osaka/380945/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130905061214/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Baby-Manji-reaches-Osaka/380945 |date=2013-09-05 }}], November 3, Tue Nov 04 2008</ref>

==Legislation==

=== The Ban on Surrogacy ===
In October 2015 a letter was sent by [[Indian Council of Medical Research]] (ICMR). The letter bans foreign couples getting Indian surrogates.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&u=9211haea&id=GALE%7CA433155727&v=2.1&it=r&sid=ebsco&ugroup=outside&authCount=1&selfRedirect=true|title=Surrogate mothers stage protest in Anand|last=|first=|date=October 31, 2015|website=The Times of India|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511070820/https://galeapps.gale.com/apps/auth?userGroupName=9211haea&sid=ebsco&origURL=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.gale.com%2Fps%2Fi.do%3Fp%3DITOF%26u%3D9211haea%26id%3DGALE%257CA433155727%26v%3D2.1%26it%3Dr%26sid%3Debsco%26ugroup%3Doutside%26authCount%3D1%26selfRedirect%3Dtrue&prodId=ITOF|archive-date=May 11, 2021|access-date=|url-status=live}}</ref> This sparked public outcry and protests. People are concerned about the effect the ban will have on the economy of Anand.

The surrogacy industry has played a role in transforming the economy of Anand in India and financially bettering the lives of thousands of poor families and the government’s recent move to ban the practice will wipe out incomes.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thenational.ae/business/indian-surrogacy-ban-leads-to-pain-and-anguish-for-gulf-couples-1.105031|title=Indian surrogacy ban leads to pain and anguish for Gulf couples|work=The National|access-date=2018-03-08|language=en|archive-date=2018-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180308232540/https://www.thenational.ae/business/indian-surrogacy-ban-leads-to-pain-and-anguish-for-gulf-couples-1.105031|url-status=live}}</ref> “About 5,000 families in Anand are surviving on surrogacy,” says Dr Patel, whose clinic has been at the forefront of the country’s commercial surrogacy sector. “There are the surrogates, the nannies, the rickshaw drivers, the hoteliers who employ hundreds of peoples, the restaurants, the shops. There are so many people directly or indirectly surviving on surrogacy, so it’s going to be a huge economic impact as far as Anand is concerned.<ref name=":1" />”

=== Protections ===
In 2008 a law - the Assisted Reproductive Technologies Bill (ART) - was introduced to protect surrogates, the children and the commissioning parents.<ref>Nita Bhalla and Mansi Thapliyal, [India seeks to regulate its booming 'rent-a-womb' industry, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-surrogates-idUSBRE98T07F20130930 [http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-surrogates-idUSBRE98T07F20130930]], Sep 30, 2013</ref>

Dr Anup Gupta, the founder of [[Delhi IVF]], a clinic that handles five to six cases a month said that "The legislation will facilitate surrogacy".<ref>Nirmala Ganapathy,
The Straits Times, [A Rented Womb http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=5005 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052650/http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=5005 |date=2016-03-04 }}], August 22, 2010</ref>

==See also==
* [[Anand, Gujarat|Anand]], [[Gujarat]]
* [[Gynaecworld Clinic]]
* [[Commercial surrogacy in India]]
* [[Fertility tourism]]

== References ==
<references />

==External links==
Draft, Assisted Reproductive Technologies Bill, https://web.archive.org/web/20120508174143/http://icmr.nic.in/guide/ART%20REGULATION%20Draft%20Bill1.pdf, MINISTRY OF HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE
GOVT. OF INDIA, NEW DELHI

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[[Category:Obstetrics and gynaecology organizations]]
[[Category:Healthcare in Gujarat]]
[[Category:Anand district]]
[[Category:Clinics in India]]

Akanksha Infertility Clinic - Revision history

>GreenC bot at 04:52, 5 July 2021