Half of India's surrogate babies for UK

An estimated 2,000 births by surrogate mothers took place in India last year, and experts say half of the babies went to Britain. Dr. Radhey Sharma, commissioned by the Indian government to study the boom in fertility treatments in India, said the scale of the commercial fertility enterprise is unknown, but his incomplete database has 600 in vitro fertility clinics in India, The Daily Telegraph reported. Women in India were being paid about $9,000 to donate eggs and carry the babies to term, Sharma said. It costs about $40,000 for Britons to become parents via commercial surrogacy in India, the Telegraph said. Dr. Anoop Gupta, director of Delhi IVF and Fertility Center, said the clinic does not offer such treatments but said others in the unregulated fertility industry do. Some women cannot conceive a child, but some who can have a child via surrogacy instead. Gay couples have also become parents by choosing an egg donor and then a surrogate mother, Gupta said.