A Womb That Is (Not Always) One's Own

Peet, Jessica L.

doi:10.1080/14616742.2015.1103060

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Surrogacy services in India are legal and not as costly as surrogacy in the United States. India has the added legal advantage of guaranteeing that a surrogate mother cannot make a legitimate claim about the baby she is carrying (Peet, 2016) [5] . This shows that the surrogacy industry exploits women in poorer areas more.…”

Section: The Commodification Of the Female Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

Limits on women's autonomy in controlling their reproductive rights: an analysis of paid ova donation and commercial surrogacy

2024

phij

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This essay focuses on why women's right to control their bodies has been restricted from an ethical perspective in the international trade in ova and surrogacy. Commercial surrogacy and the international trade in ova mean that women are being commodified. This reflects the exploitative nature of capital over women who are surrogates or ova donors. The exploitation is mainly manifested in the enormous risks faced by women, and the contracts are not very comprehensive in terms of upholding the rights of surrogate mothers and women who donate their ova for payment. On the contrary, many surrogacy contracts with women in poor areas minimise the rights of the surrogate mother. Many women in poorer areas do not volunteer to become surrogates but are forced to do so by family pressure. Surrogate mothers are also emotionally exploited, i.e. they are constantly reminded not to become too emotionally attached to the embryo.

show abstract

Section: The Commodification Of the Female Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

Limits on women's autonomy in controlling their reproductive rights: an analysis of paid ova donation and commercial surrogacy

2024

phij

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The booming baby making industry owes its expansion to the advances in reproductive medicine. Technological advances and reproductive technologies have resulted in surrogacy becoming increasingly transnational and commercialized (Peet, 2016). The million-dollar reproductive industry operates like any other commercial venture with its factory-like breeding establishment.…”

Section: Million-dollar Baby-making Industry: Dehumanizing Fertility ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

A critique of baby making supermarts: Surrogacy clinics in Kishwar Desai’s Origins of Love (2012)

Mehta

Saraswat

Paul

2022

RJAH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores the exploitation of commercial surrogates at the hands of the various stakeholders and agents of the fertility industry in Kishwar Desai’s novel Origins of Love (2012). It begins with a brief description of the advances in the field of infertility treatment and the tailored options of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) for conceiving a child. It then traces the practice of surrogacy in mythology and explores how it is different from present day surrogacy. It further points out why ARTs is preferred over adoption by prospective parents and how this preference has led to the emergence of fertility clinics as the new baby supermarts, from where the parents can ‘buy’ egg, sperm and customised babies. The paper also throws light on how this trend of baby shopping makes fertility clinics operate akin to any other commercial industry and how in the novel Desai has depicted the inherent flaws of this phenomenon of baby shopping. It critically examines the rapid expansion of Reproductive Tourism due to transnational commercial gestational surrogacy and the huge popularity of India as a surrogacy hub, as depicted in Desai’s novel. The paper illustrates how surrogacy not only involves exploitation of women’s reproductive capacity but also encompasses physical, emotional, psychological and economic exploitation. The paper ends with a scrutiny of the blatant violation of medical ethics in the field of ARTs and the potentially dangerous long-term implications that these technological advancements can have on women’s health and the society at large.

show abstract

“…To begin with, and even apart from ICGS, '[h]igher-class, lighter-skinned women within India are still paid more than their lower-status, darker-skinned counterparts' (Peet 2016, 182) and their behaviours less heavily policed and limited as surrogates. Indeed, educated urban women of higher status and lighter skin earn an average of USD 2000 more than their counterparts (Peet 2016). Bailey (2011) contends that research findings clearly indicate traits such as fair skin, lighter hair, blue/green eyes, high IQs, are greatly in demand by Indian couples coming to fertility clinics, and that color and caste also play a central role in the surrogacy's negotiating power; a fair-skinned, educated, middle-class Brahman who speaks English will fetch more.…”

Section: The Multiple Othering Of Surrogatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A postcolonial framing of Indian commercial surrogacy: issues, representations, and orientalisms

Lau

2018

Gender, Place & Culture

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A Womb That Is (Not Always) One's Own

Cited by 7 publications

References 19 publications

Limits on women's autonomy in controlling their reproductive rights: an analysis of paid ova donation and commercial surrogacy

Limits on women's autonomy in controlling their reproductive rights: an analysis of paid ova donation and commercial surrogacy

A critique of baby making supermarts: Surrogacy clinics in Kishwar Desai’s Origins of Love (2012)

A postcolonial framing of Indian commercial surrogacy: issues, representations, and orientalisms

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About