WHAT I KNOW FOR SURE, INDIA AND SURROGACY!

Mark's Rocket Ship

For those of you who have followed our journey, Mark will be 5 on Tuesday and the twins will be 3 on December 20th.  Mark is a genius according to us, Elle runs our home and Alec has an A personality.  Well what does that say about us...for those of you who know us...you fill in the blanks.

I decided to write this post for many reasons.  One a number of you always email me asking when will you post, and secondly due to the climate of surrogacy in India at this time.  I really want to give a shout out to Dr. Patel because she always holds the mantle that eludes many when surrogacy in India is discussed.  For those of us who have traveled this road I can say that we are tired of the voices that have never traveled our journey to talk about exploitation of surrogates yet have no idea how many intended parents or better known as IPs have been exploited.  We do not ask for any one's sympathies because we all embark on this journey desperate and wholeheartedly hoping for a connection with the best of humanity.

Often I wonder to myself, what role do intended parents play in this story.  Is it fair to ask the doctors to house the surrogates for 8-9 months?  Are we paying the surrogates what the market will bare?  Are the doctors truly exploiting the surrogates? I am concerned when people open business and facilitate and have never even had a surrogate anywhere in the world.  The answer to these questions are a mixed bag.

I have openly stated that our surrogate was not housed for the entire period of time in Gujarat, because she did not need to be.  We were fortunate enough to have had a surrogate who worked in the medical field in India.  I personally do not feel that all surrogates need to be  housed, although I do work with doctors who do feel that the should be housed.  The problem comes into play if a doctor tells their intended parents that their surrogates are housed, when they are not.  I have intended parents tell me that they have worked with doctors and did undercover work on their own only to find that their surrogate was not being housed, however they were charged for housing.  If you are concerned about your surrogate not getting the payment that you think is fair then it is incumbent upon you to if at all possible to hand the surrogate extra funds privately.

What I know for sure is that there are good doctors in India that value what they do and love their job.  I have cried with doctors who work tirelessly to do the best that they can because they will not tell a client that they have had yet another negative.  Are there bad doctors in India?  Yes just like anywhere else in the world, however it is more pronounced when it is not regulated.  I am not saying anything that I have not already said before, the truth is that now more voices are finally seconding  the realities of what I and others have been saying for years.

Alec &Elle Turned 2 Today! WAMU RADIO Washington DC Public Radio

Local Couple Pursues Parenting Dream Overseas


I am back from India, and I am already missing the warm weather.   Surrogacy in India is still thriving and regulation is still on the plate.  Many in the legal world, are not sure if the process will truly be regulated, or if the situation will be diluted.   I was able to visit a number of surrogacy homes in Delhi, and it looks like a number of doctor's are stepping up to the plate, as far as clean and safe surrogate housing.  While visiting one surrogate house, it was impressive to see the women with their children in tow.  The doctor who ran that surrogate house said that the women feel better having the their children with them for the duration of the pregnancy.  With that said, there is still a lot of concern especially from local groups in regards to the growing rates of surrogates who have died after giving birth.

According to embassy officials, intended parent's going to India for surrogacy still need to be as vigilant  as possible when seeking out a doctor to help in the process of creating your family.  A number of cases have come up where the intended parents DNA tests have came back negative, meaning one or both of the intended parent's DNA did not match that of their baby or babies.   If this does come up, you will be required to adopt your baby and that process in India takes about 6 months. 

Surrogacy in India, is still a good option for many people.  Intended parent's should talk to other's who have gone through the process if they are able to, before you begin your journey to parenthood.

Happy Holidays  To All!
 

Emmy Award Winning Art Fennell with Crystal Travis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAkqal3-4Yc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaKRd0uVLn4

Intended Parents Dumps Surrogate Baby & Gets him Back!

--This story is the reason why I preach to intended parents, that they only work with doctors that have a proven track record, and that they have staff or a facilitator to help you through the process---


Green with her baby after passport authorities returned the infant to her. Picture by G Vijayalakshmi
Hyderabad, Jan. 28: An American abandoned her seven-week-old son, born of a surrogate Indian mother, on a bench at the regional passport office here after being refused an Indian passport for the baby so she could take him home.

It was all apparently caused by a misunderstanding, however, and has led to a happy ending.
J. Pearl Linda Van Buren Green, a 35-year-old New Yorker, had not been clearly told that her son, Emperor Kaioyus Van Buren Green, didn't need a passport to leave India.

She later explained she had acted in frustration after spending thousands of dollars over many months in her pursuit of a surrogate baby.Police have decided not to press charges of abandonment, which could have brought Green a jail term of up to three years.

Yesterday, Green was told the foreign ministry had decided to issue an identity certificate for the baby that would act as his travel documents. However, his father Eric Dalton Green, based in Jamaica and a citizen of that country, must first send a letter endorsing his wife's application for the certificate.


Green had arrived in India with seven samples of her husband's semen. After failed efforts in Mumbai and Goa, she came to Hyderabad about 18 months ago. At a fertility clinic here, the child was conceived with eggs donated by a lady from Rajahmundry.

Another local lady acted as the surrogate mother, delivering the child on December 7. Green then applied for a passport for the baby on the Tatkal route.

On Wednesday, she got frustrated when, after a two-hour wait at the passport office and an hour's verification process, she was told the passport could not be issued as the baby was not Indian.

The incident reflects the plight of foreigner couples who have surrogate children in India but whose own countries, lacking surrogacy laws, refuse passports to the babies. After two such children, born to Japanese and German couples, faced such problems in 2008 and 2009, the Supreme Court had shown the way out by directing they be issued identity certificates.

Green was apparently not told about this. After she walked out in a huff, the passport authorities found the baby on a bench in the office waiting room. They went through CCTV footage to ascertain what had happened. From Green's application, they identified the fertility clinic, which gave them the American’s local phone number.


We have asked Ms Van Buren Green to submit an application for an identity certificate for the baby,” regional passport officer K. Srikar Reddy said. I wish things would be cleared soon,” Green told reporters yesterday, adding that she could not afford to stay any longer in Hyderabad because of financial constraints.

Surrogacy has become a big business in Hyderabad and its neighbourhood, causing fertility centres to mushroom over the past five years. Many women from Andhra Pradesh’s drought-hit districts choose to become surrogate mothers to earn a few extra bucks for their impoverished families.

“We get reports of at least 50 to 100 such births in a month,” the state health secretary said. Only about five per cent of the parents are foreigners. “Most of the clients are women from well-to-do Indian families who want to avoid childbirth so that their lifestyle, or body shape, is not affected,” said Srinivas Prasad, a doctor at one of the city’s top 15 fertility centres.

 A fertility expert said his centre had a list of “nearly 400 surrogate mothers” who could be contacted at short notice. “We charge about Rs 3-5 lakh per case,” he added. A surrogate mother receives between Rs 75,000 and Rs 1 lakh besides the cost of medicine and maternity expenses.


The same lady is not usually allowed more than three surrogate births but there has been one instance of one lady giving birth to five surrogate children.

Dr. Patel's American Bollywood Babies!

Mark, watching his favorite late night show with Alec.

My beautiful daughter Elle!

Alec in his favorite walker.

Mark (August 1, 2011)

I'm back in India!

May 14, 2011---


This trip is so different from my last trip to India, bringing back the twins in December.  I’m sitting on the airplane with my Mac, as random thoughts enter my head, as I head to New Delhi and Gujarat for business.  My thoughts are on my family,  Colin, Mark, Elle and Alec.  Colin has all 3 children by himself tonight, but our nanny Esper, will come arrive on Sunday.  Leaving this time was much harder, as Mark begged me not to go to India, but then stated that he wanted to fly on the airplane with me.  He is a world traveler at this point.  Lately we have been using Raj when we fly out o town as it is much easier to get in and out of the airport if you hire someone.  This also makes life a lot easier when you have children.
The surrogacy world in India is constantly changing, therefore I feel that it is incumbent that I keep up with what his happening abroad,  as I facilitate surrogacy internationally.  The main purpose of the trip is to vet more doctors so that clients will have more options.  I also have meetings set up so that clients who are willing to go to Delhi will have an easier  process exiting out of Delhi.  Many American clients do not want to go to Delhi, due to the exit visa process.  People are still having problems getting exit visa's from Hyderabad as well as Delhi.

Delhi-----
I just arrived in Delhi and it is about 8:30 pm and it is HOT!!.  I have never come to India in May  It is so hot, that I feel like I'm having a hard time just breathing, and my eyes feel like they are full of pollution or maybe I'm just tired from the flight. .  My driver is running a little bit late because my flight was showing that it was delayed, but we arrived early.  I meet an American on the plane who happens to work for the embassy in New Delhi, so we had a long talk about surrogacy in India and the problems associated with Delhi,  he gave me his contact number  and wants me to come to the embassy while I'm in Delhi to meet with them.  We both had a good chuckle as we were leaving the plane, as we were being pushed into, by locals adamant to get off of the plane and get their luggage at all costs.  If you have been to India before, you understand what I’m getting at.  The flights feel so commonplace at this point, that the 12 hour flight from Newark, NJ to Delhi whizzed by.  However, on this flight I found myself looking at photo’s of  my family on my Ipad, as I sat quietly jamming to my music.  A bit of advice for people flying to India, is that I always request kosher food, on the airplane.  I have found that it is fresher and always tastes better than the veg or the non veg that is offered.
My dinner tonight was lovely, and it was at a country club in Delhi where I have been before.  The butter chicken, and Roti were just lovely.  We had a number of other dishes but I cannot remember the names of the dishes at this point.  Well  I'm off to bed!

Wall Street Journal HBO Movie Google Baby

HBO

Pregnant Indian women at Dr. Navna Patel’s surrogacy clinic. In 2006, Israeli documentarian Zippi Brand Frank was studying as a Neiman Journalism Fellow at Harvard University when she became fascinated by the campus’ bulletin boards. She noticed an increasing number of ads calling for women’s embryos (tall, attractive and with good SAT scores only, please) being plastered all over the college. She soon learned how technical — and corporate — having a baby through a surrogate was becoming. Thus, the idea for her documentary “Google Baby,” which debuts tonight on HBO2, was born.



In particular, Frank became interested in the outsourcing of surrogacy to countries like India, where clinics, like that of Dr. Navna Patel in Anand, India, can employ hundreds of women as surrogates for strangers’ babies — at a fraction of the cost of using a Western surrogate. “It’s certainly a growing business over there,” says Frank. “And there are no regulations, no ethics. There was talk of limiting or regulating it, but the lobby of the doctors is so strong [in India], this is how it worked out.”



A native of Tel Aviv, Frank says she was more familiar than most about surrogacy rules, because the practice has been legal in Israel since 1996 and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments are subsidized by the government. (The country, unsurprisingly, has the world’s highest per-capita rate of IVF.) But she still managed to be shocked by some of the information she uncovered while researching her film.



The Wall Street Journal: Surrogacy can be a touchy subject. How did you find subjects that were willing to tell their stories?



Zippi Brand Frank: It’s wasn’t easy. We filmed in three locations: America, Israel and India. In America, it was a little easier because it’s a capitalist society and it’s just another business transaction. When I was doing my research, I also found that many American women would say they were doing it because they honestly want to help out out other families, but if there wasn’t a money compensation, I’m not sure if they would do it. In India, it took me more than a year to convince the doctor [whose IVF clinic is featured in the film]. In the very beginning, she was reluctant because she wasn’t sure how her business would be received; plus, it wasn’t as big as it’s gotten now. The surrogate mothers were hard to convince because it’s really a taboo and forbidden in India.



in the film, Dr. Patel is shown taking a phone call while delivering a baby. Did you have any concerns about her practice?



The only criticism I have is about the c-section thing [whereby many surrogate mothers are given c-sections instead of being allowed a vaginal birth] which is geared toward the client, and having the commodity out as good as possible instead of focusing on the women first. That’s just how it works. [Dr. Patel] didn’t like that scene when she saw it, but coming from Israel, I can tell you it’s worse in Israel. During my c-section, the doctor was talking on the phone as well. It all depends on the culture.



Did you contact any of the families seeking surrogates?



in the very beginning, I was also researching the clients, as in, the ones that needed the service. After doing all the research, I decided to focus only on the industry. I’ve heard the personal stories behind surrogates before, and it’s all very emotional, but I wanted to focus on the industry to raise awareness that child bearing has become such a commodity.



You’ve screened your film around the world. How do the audience reactions differ by country?



It depends on where you are. For most people, it’s a diabolical process. Especially when I screen it in Europe. For example, in Italy, which is a Catholic country, this film is very very successful because there are no IVF treatments and it’s forbidden by the church. So people were shocked, and the film had coverage in the major newspapers. Europe is much more conservative about this subject than America. Overall, I think that people are amazing that you can take the egg outside and choose what baby you want to have, and then implant it in someone else.

Missing my boy's!

I'm back in India, and I'm at the Madhubhan Resort in Anand.  It was so great arriving yesterday and seeing so many people that I have come to know.  Today will be a day when I just take time to reflect and possibly get in a bathing suit and hang out by the pool.  Yesterday I got to hang out a bit with Dr. Patel and took photos of some of the surrogates while they were being scanned.  Currently there are over 60 pregnant surrogates, and Anand is busy as ever. 

I'm missing  Colin and Mark, but I'm sure that they are well and that my neighbor's are all helping out. 
I will blog more tomorrow....right now I'm looking for more coffee.

Mother Jones--Outsourced wombs.

After reading the Mother Jones article by Scott Carney, once again I felt nauseated by another American journalist who totally refused to honestly do his homework. The surrogate house in Anand is far better than the housing that the majority of surrogates come from. They are given nutritious meals and a clean bed, as well as an education. This compares well to other clinics. I'm aware of a surrogate at another clinic who was pregnant with twins, and she was sleeping on the floor when the intended parents arrived for the birth of the twin boys.

I always read about the women doctors who perform surrogacy in India, however the majority of surrogacy doctors in India are male. I'm sure that Scott Carney is a white male, who grew up in the US and has no clue of the reality of third world culture. If he lived in India I'm sure he would love it if he was only making $30 monthly that his wife would be so lucky to become a surrogate. This is the lottery for women in this culture who do not have many options, just as it is for American women in the same shoes. Secondly, he is incorrect about photos of Oprah being displayed throughout the clinic. Dr. Patel only has one signed autographed photo of Oprah in her clinic, and I have been to the clinic on several occasions and I have never seen more than one photo.

Thirdly, as a "Foreigner", I do love India because as a black woman I appreciate that Indian culture is tied to black culture. I can relate to India more than I can America. If Scott Carney is saying that white people only come because it is cheaper, then so be it. What's wrong with saving money?

Dr. Patel has nothing to hide. Unlike many clinics she does not use prostitutes, nor does she engage in giving people negatives just for the sake of making extra money. This is a billion dollar business and those who are corrupt will be found out sooner or later, maybe reporters from the US should concentrate on finding the truly corrupt clinics.

The Diksha that is mentioned in the article, was employeed with the clinic when our son was born, and told us then that she wanted to become a surrogate for the money We have photos with her and her two sons.  Her husband works and lives in Anand, so she didn't leave Napal to come to India for surrogacy.

Crystal Travis
http://www.worldofsurrogacy.com/

301-317-5589

Random Photos of India and Mark

This post has one picture of Mark and a bunch of pictures from my trip to India.  Many of them are from the wedding of Dr. Patel's daughter, but we start with a picture of Mark looking off to the side while eating a bagel.  The wedding was in Anand, which is in the state of Gujarat in the northwest of India.  The other locations where these pictures were taken are Jaipur, Delhi and Agra.  All of these are within a few hours drive of each other, in the north central part of India.  The Taj Mahal is in Agra.  Jaipur has a beautiful hotel called the Rambaugh Palace, which is the nicest place I've ever stayed in my life.  Other posts in my blog have pictures from there.

Mark eating a bagel

Nayna, who carried Mark, and her husband

The band that played at the wedding of Dr. Patel's daughter

Dr. Patel's daughter and new son-in-law

My friend and travel partner Beth (left) with the woman that helped dress us in our Saris for the wedding

In Delhi at a store called Nalli, where you can get the most awesome fabrics

Grand entrace to the wedding of Dr. Patel's daughter

Right to left: Dr. Hitesh Patel, his daughter; his new son-in-law and Dr. Nayana Patel

Elephants in Jaipur heading for a castle

Man washing himself outside in Jaipur

Taj Mahal around dawn (shrouded in fog)

Taj Mahal with the fog lifting a bit

Taj Mahal with the for lifting more, and taken from a greater distance

Princess Crystal sitting where another princess once had her picture taken