Surrogacy has become a new buzzword in Nepal with all the private agents being illegally involved in providing secret surrogacy service.

The shared border with India and easy access inside the country makes surrogacy an easy job for foreigners visiting Nepal. However, many couples find it difficult to go through the legal process or afford the cost in developed countries as a result of which they peruse cheaper options in less regulated countries like Nepal, Thailand and India.

There exist two types of surrogacy:  While going through ‘traditional surrogacy’, the hired wome acts as both the egg donor and actual surrogate for the embryo, and she is impregnated with a medical procedure termed as ‘intrauterine insemination’.

In this operation, the doctor will implant the biological father’s sperm into the surrogate’s uterus so that fertilization takes place biologically. And with this mechanism the baby has a genetic link to the surrogate mother. Likewise, with gestational surrogacy, an egg is fertilised and transferred to the surrogate’s uterus using IVF.

In this case, the surrogate women have no biological link, and both intended parents can be registered on the birth certificate.

Dramatic rise in the number of Western couples reaping benefit from Eastern surrogates has added an oriental dimension to the moral and legal debate. Mostly surrogate women come from deprived families who take up the assignment for financial benefit.

Existing as an illegal and irreligious practice in Nepal, surrogate Nepalese are under pressure to remain silent despite extreme exploitation and injustice to them.

The debate is whether the law believes that couples  who are otherwise impotent to conceive a child should be prevented  from an alternative privilege  to build their family?

Undoubtedly it’s believed that the only way to defend “vulnerable” people is by lawfully forbidding conduct under which they are likely to get exploited.  But experience has shown that legal prohibitions often fail to impede activities related to human necessities, especially when they can be systematically incorporated within the legislation.

Today’s metro life demands surrogacy. It should be widely approved and sanctioned to be ventured openly, by professional health workers, in licensed and authorized premises so that we would develop a legal framework to fulfill the complex interests of involved parties without violating justice.