Priyanka-Nick welcome 1st baby: Here's all you need to know about Surrogacy & how it works

Actor Priyanka Chopra on Friday announced that she and her husband Nick Jonas had welcomed their first child via surrogacy. Ever since Priyanka Chopra's baby announcement, there has been a rise in searches asking “what is surrogacy in Hindi", “surrogacy meaning in Telugu", “how does surrogacy work", and “what happens in surrogacy" amongst others. 

Over the last few years, several celebrities have adopted the road of surrogacy to welcome new members to their families. From Nicole Kidman to Jimmy Fallon, Preity Zinta to Sunny Leone, and even the Kardashians, there has been a rising use of surrogates amongst celebrities globally.  

However, there has also been considerable controversy surrounding the use of a surrogate mother to have a baby, given the complex legal processes that differ from country to country. Here is what surrogacy means and how it works. 

What is Surrogacy? 

Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to bear a child for a person/couple who will be the child's legal parent(s) after birth. There are mainly two types of surrogate mothers - Traditional and Gestational.

A traditional surrogate mother is a woman who gets artificially inseminated with the father's sperm and delivers it for the father/couple to raise. In gestational surrogacy, the couple first uses "In Vitro Fertilization" (IVF) to gather eggs from the mother and sperm from the father (or egg/sperm donors) on both ends and then the growing embryo is placed into the uterus of the surrogate. 

Who uses Surrogates?

While there can be several reasons for using surrogates, the most common reason is when a woman is unable to conceive traditionally due to medical problems. Other times, there can also be conditions that make pregnancy impossible or risky for the mother, such as a heart disease.  

India permits surrogacy if it is (i) for couples who suffer from infertility; (ii) altruistic; (iii) not for commercial purposes; (iv) not for producing children for sale, prostitution or other forms of exploitation; and (v) for any condition or disease specified through regulations."

What are the Surrogacy laws in India?

In December 2021, the Lok Sabha passed the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 via voice vote. The most important aspect of the bill is its regulatory mechanism. The new legislation prohibits commercial surrogacy in India but allows altruistic surrogacy, which involves no monetary compensation to the surrogate mother other than the medical expenses and insurance coverage during the pregnancy. 

It is important to mention that commercial surrogacy was allowed in India since 2002, and due to the absence of regulations, a large number of underprivileged women willing to provide the service in want of money opted for transnational surrogacy, which led to their exploitation. 

Image: Facebook/Priyanka Chopra