Sama – Resource Group for Women and Health
India | 1999
Sama is a Delhi-based organization working on issues of women’s health and human rights. A key focus is assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and international commercial surrogacy.
Sama documents and makes visible the experiences of gestational mothers and the risks they face in international commercial surrogacy arrangements. The organization examines issues within the framework of gender, class, caste, religion, ethnicity, and other power dynamics within South Asian society and between South Asia and other countries/regions. Visit Sama’s website for more information.
Aside from the acclaimed film “Can We See the Baby Bump Please?” and report “Birthing A Market,” Sama has produced a vital collection of research on ARTs and surrogacy.
Their publications include:
- ART Policy Brief, critiquing the provisions of the Draft ART Bill of 2010.
- Constructing Conceptions, documenting the lived experiences of women of different class and caste backgrounds who access ARTs to have a biological child.
- Unraveling the Fertility Industry (2010), based on an international consultation organized by Sama in 2010, focussing on the commercial, economic, and ethical aspects of ARTs.
- Consultation on “New” Reproductive and Genetic Technologies and Women’s Lives (2006), raising awareness about ARTs and their implications, potential drawbacks, and collective strategies to combat the issues surrounding ARTs.
- ARTs and Women (2006), demonstrating how the ART sector cashes on the social stigma of infertility and the patriarchal pressures on women to have a biologically-related child.
Visit Sama’s website for a full list.