Reproductive biocrossings: Indian egg donors and surrogates in the globalized fertility market

TLDR

Transnational fertility tourism is expanding, with Indian women increasingly serving as surrogates and egg donors, positioning India as a global surrogacy outsourcing hub. The author calls for banning commercial egg donation and surrogacy, advocating a social‑justice framework that obliges the state to provide basic social goods and a gender‑justice approach to protect women from being compelled into surrogacy for survival or upward mobility.

Abstract

A growing number of infertile couples and other individuals desiring children are seeking to fulfill their desire for parenthood transnationally through the use of donor gametes and a surrogate. The number of “fertility tourists” from developed countries to low-income countries is growing phenomenally. Indian women, too, are participating as (re)producers in these “biocrossings,” turning India into the surrogacy outsourcing capital of the world in the globalized bioeconomy of assisted reproduction. I argue for a ban on commercial egg donation and surrogacy and a social-justice approach that would hold the state responsible for providing basic social goods to low-income households. I also argue for a gender-justice approach so that women would not be compelled to adopt surrogacy as a strategy for survival and upward social mobility.