Made in India
Directors: Rebecca Haimowitz and Vaishali Sinha | 2010
“Made in India” is a feature length documentary film about an infertile American couple and their journey to India for a baby. The movie’s website describes it as “weaving together personal stories within the context of a growing international industry… [exploring] a complicated clash of families in crisis, reproductive technology, and choice from a global perspective.”
From the filmmakers:
As women deeply interested in issues of reproductive rights, social justice and global issues, the subject of “outsourcing” surrogacy to India captivated us from the moment we first read about the practice.
We aim to create a film that goes beyond sensationalist headlines and uncovers the personal lives and choices of the surrogates and the infertile Americans involved.
Published in the first quarter of 2016, this report tracks clinics providing surrogacy services in the United States (208), as well as the number of surrogacy cases in each clinic. It records approximately 900 cycles of IVF using gestational surrogacy in 2014. The data is approximate – and the report explains why – and will have changed since the date of publication. However, it is still a useful resource for anyone looking for a list of clinics across the country.
This article challenges “leftists” (individuals with liberal or progressive political and social views) to oppose commercial surrogacy, arguing that the practice flies in the face of two of their most enduring principles: autonomy and equality. It draws a parallel between a sweatshop worker and a gestational mother, both of whom sign contracts out of “economic desperation.” It suggests that such contracts would be deemed “immoral” by “progressives” and, for equality to exist, it is the government’s role (and not that of the contracting parties) to ensure agreements are unenforceable.
