Commercial Surrogacy and Fertility Tourism in India

Japanese couple Ikufumi and Yuki Yamada traveled to India in late 2007 to
discuss with fertility specialist Dr. Nayna Patel their desire to hire a surrogate
mother to bear a child for them. The doctor arranged a surrogacy contract with
Pritiben Mehta, a married Indian woman with children. Dr. Patel (Akanksha) supervised the
creation of an embryo from Ikufumi Yamada’s sperm and an egg harvested from an
anonymous Indian woman. The embryo was then implanted into Mehta’s womb.
In June 2008, the Yamadas divorced, and a month later Baby Manji was born to the
surrogate mother. Although Ikufami wanted to...