India: Women strap on bellies to keep surrogacy secret

by Jared Yee
5 May 2012

Many women in India who hire surrogates use fake tummies to keep the surrogacy a secret, the Times of India reports. Women from traditional communities hide the fact that they have employed surrogates, for fear that their in-laws and relatives will disapprove. Instead, they wear a strap-on belly for 9 months to simulate pregnancy. Surrogacy expert Dr Naina Patel, based in Anand, tells of a Chennai couple who opted for an artificial stomach to avoid disapproval from the woman's in-laws. "She did not have a uterus and her in-laws would never have accepted that the child was born through another's woman's womb," Patel told the Times of India.

Hema Inamdar, a maker of soft toys, specialises in fake stomachs. "A woman called from the UK saying she felt she was actually carrying a baby when she wore the tummy," says Inamdar. They come in sets of 3. One set simulates 3, 5 and 7 months' pregnancy. The other simulates 5, 7 and 9 months, with one set costing about 1,000 rupees (US$18). Fertility expert Dr Falguni Bavishi says Indian women who live abroad give in too often to familial pressures. the rest