Surrogacy in the mirror of Hinduism and Islam Submitted by admin4 on 11 October 2011 - 12:13pm Articles Indian Muslim By M Naushad

Ansari, Medical Tourism Agency is expecting 100 surrogate babies this year in India. The su rrogacy industry in India is a favourite destination among developed nations lik e US and UK. Bangalore is turning into a surrogacy hub. She (woman) rents womb to pa y off debt. Surrogacy benefits: Money, Flat, Food & Medical Needs for 9 months. A pa ckage of Surrogacy Abroad.Inc, involving air travel, accommodation, finding a su rrogate mother, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and delivery for the couple costs $ 40,000 to $ 45,00, one fourth of the amount is paid to the surrogate mother. These are some of the headlines on surrogacy which have appeared in The Times of India (Bangalore edition) recently. Various reports on the issue reveal that India is emerging as a major destinatio n for surrogacy as childless couples from US and Europe are lured by the prospec t of a surrogate child. Many say that India will become a centre of "reproductiv e tourism" in a short time. Before the advent of modern assisted conception techniques, natural surrogacy wa s the only means of helping childless women to have children. Later as artificia l insemination (A.I.) was accepted, this became the usual means of achieving pre gnancy in cases of infertility, being more socially acceptable than the natural way. When assisted conception methods such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) becom e available, it was a method to use the eggs of the women wanting the baby/donor woman and the sperm of her husband/donor male, to create their embryos in vitro and transfer these to a suitable host. In India, Surrogacy was known and practiced from ancient times. As per Mahabhara ta, Gandhari, wife of king Dhritarashtra, conceived but the pregnancy went on fo r nearly two years; after which she delivered a mass (mole). Lord Vyasa found th at there were 101 cells that were normal in the mass. These cells were put in a nutrient medium and were grown in vitro till full term. Of these, 100 developed into male children (Duryodhana, Duhshasana and other Kauravas) and one as a fema le child called (Duhsheela). The Hindu mythology provides many examples like that of Sage Bharadwaj produced Drona, later to be the teacher of Pandavas and Kauravas. The story relating to t he birth of Drishtadyumna and Draupadi is even more interesting and reflects the supernatural powers of the great Rishis. King Draupada had enmity with Dronacha rya and desired to have a son strong enough to kill Drona. He was given medicine by Rishi and after collecting his semen, processed it and suggested that AIH sh ould be done for his wife who, however, refused. The Rishi then put the semen in a Yajnakunda from which Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi were born. While the above are quoted as examples of IVF and parthenogenesis under Hindu be lief, there is another story, which refers to embryo transfer. This was regardin g the seventh pregnancy of Devaki, by the will of the Lord, the embryo was trans ferred to the womb of Rohini, the first wife of Vasudev, to prevent the baby bei ng killed by baby Kamsa. Womens Era, most widely read magazine for women in India, contains advertisements o n Surrogate mothers very frequently. The magazine is said to be brought out by the follower of Arya Samajist Hindus. Hence, Hindu belief seems to be permitting su rrogacy.

However, in Islam, the second largest followed religion in India, Surrogate moth erhood is not allowed due to the fact that many evils may arise from this proced ure. Islam considers it illegal and immoral to introduce into a woman the sperm of any man other than her husbands. It will be Haraam (forbidden) to form the emb ryo by the fusion of a woman s ovum with the sperm of a man other than her husba nd. It is also not lawful to implant into a woman sperm or/and an embryo into ot her womans womb. According to Dr. Abd al-Azeem al-Matani of al-Azhaar University: Renting wombs is on e of the innovations of western civilization, which is a purely materialistic ci vilization which does not give any weight to moral values and principles. The is sue is not things that may affect inherited characteristics or confuse lineage; that is not the point of the shari ruling. Whether that leads to any effect on in herited characteristics or not, whether that results in confusion of lineage or not, it does not matter, because the shari ruling forbidding this innovation is b ased on something else, which is that the womb is a part of a womans private part s and the private parts (i.e., sexual relations) are not permissible except thro ugh the shari contract whose conditions are fully met. So the womb is exclusively for the husband who is married to that woman according to a valid marriage cont ract, and no one else has any right to use it for an alien pregnancy. If the wom an who rents out her womb is not married to that husband, then she is permitting her private parts and her womb to a man who is a stranger to her; she is not pe rmissible for him and he is not permissible for her. Even if this is not full-sc ale zinaa (adultery), it is still definitely haraam because it is enabling a man who is a stranger to her (i.e., not married to her) to put his semen in her wom b. Perhaps, the most compelling evidence supporting this view is the ayah (verse) i n Surah al-Mujadalah (58: 2) where the Holy Quran says: their mothers are only those who conceived them and gave birth to them (waladna hu m). Besides, surrogacy has got various socio-psychological problems. During the peri od of pregnancy the woman goes through peculiar situations and undergoes sufferi ngs. It is a well-known scientific fact that the woman who bears a child for nin e long months gets emotionally attached to the child who remains in her womb for such a long period. In the case of surrogacy, the women have to suppress the fe elings of motherhood for good and miss the company of the baby which results in severe psychological and biological problems. To bear a child for another woman is nothing but exploitation of a poor woman by tempting into leasing their wom bs for monetary benefits, which, in turn, undermine the very institution of marr iage and family life, thus makes surrogate mothers a baby-maker and a child a commo dity. (The author is Director, Centre for Dissemination of Universal Message, Bangalor e) Share