In this paper, as the research results of a three-layer structural analysis of India's reproductive medical (surrogacy) ethics, I will introduce the present state of surrogacy in India as experienced by the world renowned surrogacy expert Dr. Patel (layer 1), and I will investigate her ethical assessment (layer 2) as well as Hinduism's view of reproductive technology supporting Dr. Patel's ethical assessment (layer 3).
The patient for who Dr. Patel performed surrogacy for the first time in 2003 was a woman born without a uterus (Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome). Since then, and until February 2011, Dr. Patel has achieved more than 250 successful cases of surrogacy and more than 330 children have been born (layer 1).
Dr. Patel relates, "To both patients who have not been blessed with a child and to 'womb suppliers' who are suffering from poverty, surrogacy performed at the Akanksha Infertility Clinic is a win-win situation (layer 2)."
Moreover, as a fortunate fact for Indian women of poor families, in Hinduism, to which 80 percent of the 1.2 billion Indian population adhere, understanding towards assisted reproductive technology is very high. In Hindu mythology we encounter transmissions that remind us of modern assisted reproductive medical technology. For example, there is a story in which a female deity conceives and gives birth by the injection of a male deity's sperm (artificial insemination), or a story where a fetus is born from another woman's womb (surrogacy). In the Hindu nation of India, where rebirth (revolving wheel of life) and karma (cause and retribution, the natural consequences of one's own foolish deeds/behavior/action) form a basic set, common religious ceremonies for the gods Shiva and Mahadevi coexist with assisted reproductive medical technology without colliding over contradictions (layer 3).
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