They’re mothers first, and surrogates later For the women of Gujarat's rent-a-womb industry, the rewards are more than financial

They’re mothers first, and surrogates later

For the women of Gujarat's rent-a-womb industry, the rewards are more than financial

Ahmedabad: Every year on October 10, Sharda Solanki begins her day in her tiny Vaghpura, Gujarat, home by offering special prayers to family deity Khodiyar devi, and to seek good health and prosperity for the twins she gave birth to on the same day many years ago. A mother praying for her daughters on their birthday isn't unusual, but Solanki isn't legally or biologically the mother of the children she prays for each year. She doesn't know the name of the daughters she prays for, she doesn't know what they look like, or even what citizenship they hold or language they speak. On paper, she is nothing but one of the many women in Gujarat, who rented her womb to a childless couple and for a life changing amount of money. Solanki is a surrogate mother. But that doesn't stop her from showering blessings on the children she gave birth to and cherishing the memories of the nine months they spent in her womb. "They are like my own children," says Sharda. "Initially, when I was pregnant for childless couples from Canada, I used to worry about my own three children whom I had left at my small home in Vaghpura. But as time passed by, my love for them grew further. Though I have not got opportunity to hold them, they are like my own children." Manisha Macwan, 38, feels the same way for the baby girl she delivered for a Goan couple in 2009. Macwan, however, is more fortunate than Sharda because the biological parents of the child she delivered are more than happy to let her keep in touch. "I have a natural connect with her (the child). Every year on her birthday, the couple (biological parents) send me her picture. She speaks English. I don't understand what she says, but it's a pleasure to listen to her talk over the phone. She is growing into a beautiful girl and I wish that she is blessed with all happiness,” says an emotional Macwan. The story isn't too different with surrogate mothers across Gujarat, which has become the hub for the booming in-vitro fertilisation industry. Over the years, reimbursement has also significantly grown. Surrogate mothers who got anything between Rs1.5lakh to Rs2 lakh initially now get anything between Rs2.5lakh to Rs3 lakh for delivering a single child. . Despite facing criticism from various human rights camps, the rent-a-womb industry in Gujarat is steadily gaining popularity and acceptance within the state's poorer sections. It has given these women a way to earn for a better future and life for their their families, provided a good business opportunity to the state and helped several childless couples bring a baby home. This acceptance, not only husband and the woman's biological children but also by parents-in-law and neighbours, and the way the money that has provided a lifeline to the families of the surrogate mothers is an added reason why the mothers get even more attached to their surrogate children. “Being a surrogate mother helped both of us (her husband and her) with things we needed desperately in our lives. The couple got their baby and I got money. But the bond with the baby has grown over the years,” said Sharda, who bought two bigha land for her landless labourer husband with the Rs7.5lakh she made by renting her womb twice.