Parenthood today is no longer restricted to the traditional means of birth, as people have started to opt for alternative means, such as adoption, sperm donation, egg donation and in-vitro fertisilation (IVF). While it is still surrounded by considerable stigma, surrogacy is gaining significant popularity as people become more aware of the practice. With the help of surrogate mothers, many celebrities have been able to fulfil their desire for parenthood and thus, reduce the stigma surrounding surrogacy.
But the subject is still a hot topic. In India, for instance, Bollywood celebrities such as director Karan Johar and actor Tusshar Kapoor recently became proud fathers via surrogacy, but a proposed law will virtually bar all unmarried couples and single parents from opting this route.
As per the bill, the intending couples should be legally married for at least five years and should be Indian citizens to undertake surrogacy, which would be allowed only for altruistic reasons. It also specifies the age limit for an infertile couple, where the woman should be aged between 23-50 years and the man between 26-55 years. It has, naturally, faced fierce opposition from many quarters.
India opened up to commercial surrogacy in 2002. It is among just a handful of countries — including Georgia, Russia and Ukraine — and a few US states where women can be paid to carry another’s genetic child through a process of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryo transfer. Low-cost technology, skilled doctors, scant bureaucracy and a steady supply of surrogates have made India a preferred destination for “fertility tourism”, attracting nationals from Britain, the United States and Australia among others, fertility experts say.
There are no accurate figures on the size of India’s fertility industry, but various studies suggest it is worth at least $3.7 billion (Dh13.58 billion) — with 3,000 fertility clinics producing around 2,000 foreign babies from Indian surrogates annually.
Johar, the chief of Dharma Productions, one of the biggest movie-producing companies in Bollywood, announced the news of his twins’ birth via social media earlier this month.
“I am ecstatic to share with you all the two most wonderful additions to my life, my children, and lifelines; Roohi and Yash. I feel enormously blessed to be a parent to these pieces of my heart who were welcomed into this world with the help of the marvels of medical science,” he posted.
Johar joins a number of celebrities around the world who have had children via surrogacy. Here are some of them of them:
1. Karan Johar
Director and TV personality, Karan Johar recently became a father to twins, Roohi and Yash, via surrogacy in February 2017. They have been named after his late father, Yash and a rearrangement of his mother’s name, Hiroo. As per the registration of birth, he was listed as the father, with no mention of the mother.
2. Sarah Jessica Parker
After Sex and the City star, Sarah Jessica Parker and husband Matthew Broderick had their first child in 2002, they struggled with getting pregnant and turned to surrogacy as an option. Their twin girls, Marion and Tabitha, were born in 2009.
3. Shah Rukh Khan
AbRam, Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan’s third son, was born prematurely via surrogacy. Over time, he became quite close to his elder siblings, Aryan and Suhana. He is extremely popular on social media, and is the apple of his parents’ eyes.
4. Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka
Neil Patrick Harris and his partner had fraternal twins, Gideon and Harper, who were born to a surrogate mother in 2010. They used a sperm from each of them and the same woman for donor eggs, to create the twins.
5. Chris Daughtry
After giving birth to two children, Hannah and Griffin and then a partial hysterectomy, Daughtry’s wife Deanna could not give birth in the traditional way and they turned to IVF and surrogacy. In 2010, they welcomed twins, Adalynn Rose and Noah James.
6. Elton John
Elton John and husband David Furnish welcomed two sons, Zachary in 2010 and Elijah in 2013, via a surrogate mother. They used the same surrogate for both of their sons, and remained very close to her.
7. Elizabeth Banks
Unable to give birth on her own, Elizabeth Banks and her husband, Max Handelman chose surrogacy for their sons, Felix and Magnus, using the same surrogate mother. Surrogacy has had a positive impact on her life, and she has even spoken about it as a political issue.
8. Jimmy Fallon
After trying to conceive for 5 years, Jimmy Fallon and wife Nancy Juvonen finally turned to surrogacy. They realised that it was completely worth the wait, when their daughter, Winnie Rose, was born in 2013. In 2014, she was joined by their second daughter, Frances Cole Fallon, also via surrogacy.
9. Tusshar Kapoor
In 2016, Tusshar Kapoor became a proud single father to a boy, Laksshya Kapoor, through in-vitro fertilisation and surrogacy. According to Indian Express, grandparents Jeetendra and Shobha Kapoor issued a statement saying, “We could not be more excited to be grandparents to Laksshya, and are completely supportive of Tusshar’s decision.”
10. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban
The couple used a gestational surrogate for the birth of their second child, Faith Margaret in 2010. Kidman had two adopted children from her previous marriage, and gave birth to a daughter, Sunday Rose, with Keith Urban.
11. Aamir Khan
When Aamir Khan and his second wife Kiran Rao got married, they wanted a child. They had their first son, Azad, via surrogacy after a long wait and a lot of difficulty, including a miscarriage. Khan has two children, Junaid and Ira, from his previous marriage with Reena Dutta.
12. Ellen Pompeo
The famous Grey’s Anatomy star’s second daughter Sienna May was born in 2014 with the help of surrogacy. She was extremely private about the matter, and announced it on Instagram two months later, saying, “Sienna May Ivery, welcome to the world. We love you more than words can say.”
13. Sohail Khan
Sohail Khan and wife Seema Sachdev Khan had their second child via surrogacy, ten years after their first son was born. The couple didn’t release details about the birth of their son and do not prefer to talk much about their experience with the procedure.
14. Lucy Liu
In 2016, Lucy Liu welcomed a baby boy, Rockwell, into the world via surrogacy, when she was in her forties. Despite being a single mother, she believed that one should ask for help when they need it and need not feel alone. She had also worked with Tylenol on their #HowWeFamily campaign, which promoted new traditions within families.
15. Cristiano Ronaldo
The Real Madrid football star Cristiano Ronaldo is reportedly currently awaiting the arrival of twin children, via a surrogate from the United States. Ronaldo is already a father to a seven-year-old son, Cristiano Jr., whose mother’s identity the footballer has until now kept a secret.
(With inputs by PTI and Reuters)
In the UAE
Despite the growing popularity of surrogacy worldwide, it continues to be a debatable practice in many parts of the world. The UAE has declared surrogacy illegal as a practice. According to Dr Fady Georges Hachem, Consultant of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Burjeel Hospital, Abu Dhabi, “By Sharia law, you don’t have the right to put embryos in another woman.” He further added that the law also condemns sperm and egg donations. Patients, especially older couples and women over the age of 40, often approach him about the possibility of surrogacy, he said
—Saanya Lulla is an intern at Gulf News.
