The decentralised industry of global fertility

H
uman reproduction no
longer relies solely on
natural conception. The
scientific advances that
make this possible combined with ad
hoc national legislation and the desires
of couples struggling to conceive has
created an international trade in fertility.
This global industry is what Pande
studies.
“The global fertility trade can include
anything that goes into the making of a
The decentralised
industry of
global fertility
baby,” she explains. “The industry now
occurs in many countries and involves
multiple kinds of reproductive actors
or labourers, including egg providers,
surrogates, brokers, doctors and
prospective parents.
“It’s an industry that has flourished
against a legislative backdrop outlawing
many of these activities.”
To illustrate how these processes
might occur, Pande describes a
common scenario. “These days, when
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Over time, the global fertility
industry has moved from one
country to another as the
legislation to regulate it has
passed in each successive place.
you want to make a baby using assistive
fertility technologies you can – if you
are a very rich, heterosexual couple –
do this in a place like California, where
commercial surrogacy is legal. But, if
you are a single father, a gay or lesbian
couple, or if you want a ‘designer baby’
of a specific race, it gets complicated.
“In these cases, you can travel to an
egg bank in New Delhi to be matched
with an egg donor who comes from
Ukraine, South Africa or another country.
1. India
Up until 2012, India was
the foremost hub for
commercial surrogacy.
Then the country
banned commercial
gestational surrogacy,
forcing the industry to
move to Thailand.
2. Thailand
Thai authorities
banned the practice
in 2013 after an
international scandal in
which clients refused
to accept a baby born
with Down syndrome.
3. Nepal
Commercial surrogacy moved to Nepal. But after
the 2015 earthquake, it was banned there too
when it came to light that military planes had been
used on behalf of clients to rescue babies born by
surrogacy while leaving the surrogates themselves
– who were Indian nationals – stranded.
4. Cambodia
Once again, the industry moved, this time to
Cambodia. There the women stayed mostly in
dormitories near fertility clinics for the duration
of their pregnancies. The government caught
on and criminalised surrogacy in 2017. This
forced many women who were pregnant at the
time to make a choice: keep the child as
their own or go to prison.
Is South Africa involved? There is a high demand for white eggs and South
5. Laos and
African
countries
The industry is now
legal in some states in
the United States but is
rumoured to be active
underground in Laos
and several African
nations, including
Kenya and Nigeria.
Africa is the cheapest source of them. In South Africa, according to Pande, the majority
of egg providers are Afrikaans-speaking women who come from smaller cities in the
Western Cape. They are paid between USD2 000 and USD3 000 to travel to egg banks
across the world for about 15 days during which time their eggs are harvested.
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