House of Surrogates

Down a dusty back street, in a rural Indian town,

one house is home to 100 pregnant women.

They are carrying babies they will soon hand over

to couples from around the world.

And it's all the work of Dr Nayna Patel.

God is creating life,

but God has appointed me to do that on this earth.

She's the pioneer of a booming commercial surrogacy industry.

For many couples worldwide,

she offers their last hope of starting a family.

But to her critics, she has commercialised childbirth

-and exploited the poor.

-Am I doing something criminal?

There were a lot of allegations that this is just a baby-making factory.

With unprecedented access, we enter the world of Dr Nayna Patel,

-her international clients...

-He's so cute.

..and the women inside her house of surrogates.

This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

The town of Anand, far from the tourist trail

in the rural Indian state of Gujarat.

It's previously only been known for its dairy production.

But recently, an increasing number of visitors

from all over the world have been arriving in the town.

TRANSLATION:

Dr Patel's fertility clinic in the centre of Anand is where

over the last decade she has created

and personally delivered hundreds of babies via IVF surrogacy.

Australian Sam and his Serbian wife Jana have

arrived in town for the delivery of their first child.

My wife is very emotional.

It's a bit like the old days in Australia

where the parents were in the waiting room.

45-year-old Jana has been unable to have a baby since severe illness,

but commercial surrogacy is a criminal offence

where they live in Australia.

I was sick, and unfortunately...

we couldn't achieve the normal way.

This was really... In Australia, we don't have this chance,

and India is the country that I would recommend everyone to go to.

I still remember the culture shock

when we arrived at the airport the first time we came.

But the people are very friendly in India. Very nice.

So you can't complain.

WOMAN CRIES OUT

Sam and Jana have paid a fee of around US28,000

to Dr Patel's clinic for its services.

BABY CRIES

Their surrogate, Jyoti, is from a local village.

For carrying and delivering the baby, she's been paid 8,000.

It's a baby boy.

It's finally happened.

SHE SOBS, BABY CRIES

We can hear it crying.

Finally.

-After how many years?

-11.

-It's been a long one. 11 years, yeah.

Everything is fine, Jyoti is fine, the baby is fine.

We'll just show you the baby.

You can hold your baby.

-Oh, my God. Oh, my God. You're so small!

-That's amazing.

OK, let me show you. You can come with me.

This is going to be a learning experience, doing all this.

-Come, come with me.

-The expert's going to show us.

OK, we have to come this way.

When you started, and now, what's the reaction been?

I have faced criticism.

I am facing it, and I will be facing it,

because this, according to many, is a controversial subject.

There were a lot of allegations that this is just a business,

this is just baby selling,

a baby-making factory, and all these phrases used to hurt.

These surrogates are doing the physical work, agreed,

and they are being compensated for that.

They know that there is no gain without pain.

It's a journey of around two miles from the clinic

to the surrogate house, situated on the outskirts of Anand.

With so many pregnant women under one roof,

the house has its own matron.

The property is divided into dormitories,

sleeping up to 10 expectant surrogate mothers in each room.

LAUGHTER

The women in the surrogate house have all their meals made for

and delivered to them.

They are on a strict regime of vitamins and rest.

Women can be a surrogate through Dr Patel up to three times,

and it's 28-year-old's Papiya's second time inside the house.

28-year-old Vasanti has two children of her own,

but is currently being employed to carry a Japanese couple's baby.

The surrogate mothers have no genetic link to the babies

they carry.

They are created as embryos at Dr Patel's clinic before being

implanted into their wombs.

Under one roof, you have a Japanese baby, British baby,

American baby, all of them growing up under one world,

and when they will be delivered, they will all have as a birth certificate

"born in Anand".

Dr Patel works six days a week from her clinic.

As well as the medical work,

it is from here she liaises with her international clients

and keeps a watchful eye over the surrogate mothers' movements.

This is typically a demand book that the surrogates send to me

from the Surrogate House.

-So you have to go through that and say yes or no?

-Yes or no.

If I signature, it is sanctioned.

If I pass a comment that, "No, she should not go,"

or "she should only give this much money," then it is.

Every day, about five to six.

Today, one has asked for 1,000 rupees advance

to open a bank account.

Another has asked that, "My son is in class five,

"I need to go home for 10 days for his exams."

Third one has asked for 2,000 rupees for her husband,

he needs it for something.

And what kind of things would you refuse?

Oh, I mean...

Going home for just some vague reason where

I feel that she will not be able to take care of herself,

like there is some celebration and dancing going on, then

I would suggest, "Please, do not go, because it will not be good for you."

Amy has just flown into India from Texas.

She received an e-mail 24 hours earlier

saying her son had been born via a surrogate.

Go down here?

She's here to see him for the first time.

Holy moly.

If we don't get run over first, we'll get there.

This way?

Having unsuccessfully tried to hold a pregnancy

over the last 10 years, 49-year-old Amy and her husband

opted to try surrogacy.

I just want to see him.

Because of course you want to make sure the baby is OK.

She did tell us to go this way, right?

The surrogate mother, chosen by Dr Patel, and whom Amy has never met,

is now somewhere in a nearby neonatal hospital ward

with her newborn baby.

Did she say here?

Hi. I'm Amy. Someone gave birth to my child.

The baby is in...

Where is that?

Your baby was here at that time. But now he is with the nanny.

-OK.

-Your baby is with the nanny on the second floor.

Hi.

Oh! Oh! Hey there. Oh!

He's so cute. So cute.

(Little fingers.)

Oh, my God. I can't believe it.

Oh, my gosh.

Surrogate.

Surrogate.

Hi. Hi.

It's beautiful. Thank you.

I just...I can't believe I'm holding him. 10 years waiting for you. Huh?

Definitely worth it.

-She's telling, you are happy?

-Am I happy? Yes, more than happy.

Ecstatic.

-Does she speak English?

-No.

-No.

Tell her she's giving me a huge gift and I cannot thank her enough.

All right, I'll let you have him back.

I'm going to go home and sleep

and then I will see you tomorrow morning.

-So you can take this, then you can come tomorrow.

-He's so cute.

He's so small, he's so cute!

SHE LAUGHS

Commercial surrogacy has become a booming industry

across the whole of India in the last decade.

Now estimated to be worth £1 billion a year.

Paying a surrogate here is legal and costs only a fifth what it would

in the USA, one of the few other countries where it is permitted.

India has one third of the world's poorest people.

Labourers and farm workers earn under £10 a week.

It means there is no shortage of applicants

to become a surrogate at Dr Patel's clinic.

Even if they aren't totally sure what it entails.

62-year-old British doctor Michael and his 33-year-old Russian wife

Veronica are at the first stage of the surrogacy process -

having their embryos created by the clinic.

Unfortunately, I do not have the possibility of conceiving

as I'm missing one ovary and one tube due to the abnormality.

I was born like that, as we say, so I didn't know until I was 22.

That persuaded me that my last chance

of trying to have my own child is to use a surrogate.

As a physician, I find it somewhat ironic

that some days as a family doctor in my office,

I see poor individuals who are pregnant

and wish to go the route of terminating that pregnancy,

whilst other times during the day you may find individuals

who deeply wish to be pregnant and are unable to.

It's the fortunes of life.

When I came to the clinic, the outside looks very ordinary.

But that hides the interior,

where the science is quite professional,

their procedures are sterile

and no different from what I'm used to in the Western world.

Many women, they all suffer

because they don't have this possibility to become mothers.

And they would do anything, like I did, because we will be mothers,

and we will have our children who will make their children.

I still think that we will be blessed with twins.

Potential life begins in the laboratory via IVF.

Michael's sperm is injected into eggs collected from Veronica.

Our mind was always in the laboratory with the little ones.

For me, they are already live.

They are waiting for that moment to be placed in a place where

they can grow and then they can be taken out and say, "Hello, Mummy!"

If the resulting embryos continue to grow,

they become known as blastocysts.

Today, Michael and Veronica have come to see theirs,

in the hope they are good enough

to be placed inside a surrogate and create a pregnancy.

Oh, my God.

It's like my whole future is decided today, right now.

You have five blastocysts. One, two, three, four, five.

Five, I can see!

-Looks like Daddy.

-They're very good. So we will transfer one.

-Only one?

No, two, please.

-The others, we will freeze it.

-Two. Please.

-OK, we transfer this, and this we freeze. OK?

-Yes, please.

Thank you so much. They look so good.

All five blastocysts were looking perfectly healthy,

so they will implant two, and three they will freeze.

It's amazing to see life developing at that early stage,

and here in India, you know,

we've had to come all this way to experience this,

and we're just absolutely overwhelmed.

These two, I have my names already. Alexander and Katarina.

-I have the names since two years now, so it's kind of...

-Sentimental.

..sentimental, but I had those names for two years.

Always saying I will definitely one day have these little ones.

From a scientific point of view, I mean, one is not a 100% guarantee,

so, if you have two,

-it just improves your chances of at least having one child.

-Yeah.

Once the blastocysts have been chosen, Dr Patel places them

inside a surrogate, in the hope they continue to grow inside her womb.

We take the name of God, give a positive result with all prayers.

We put the embryos inside the uterus. Yes. Great.

Here, the embryo has gone inside.

Two weeks from now, there will be a blood test, which will indicate

whether they have taken the embryos and got pregnant or not.

Whatever is the outcome, positive or negative,

the couple will be informed either by e-mail or on the phone,

and if the pregnancy is confirmed,

then from time to time the antenatal progress of the surrogate and baby

is informed to the couple.

Tomorrow, we're flying back to our home, back to our daily life,

to work.

We are hopeful things will work out, but, again, nothing in life is 100%.

-Thank you.

-See you tomorrow.

-Take care. Bye.

Surrogacy in India may be relatively cheap and legal,

but returning home with your newborn can be

fraught with difficulties, depending on the rules in your own country.

A baby born in India by a surrogacy can be classed by some legal systems

as having no nationality or parents.

A hotel room in the centre of town has been home to baby boy Ceron

and his Canadian mum Barbara

since he was born by surrogacy two months ago.

They are waiting for official approval to return to Toronto,

where her husband has had to carry on working.

Mousy's one of your favourites. Look.

Mousy's one of your favourites.

But these few more months are nothing for Barbara.

Aged 53, she's been trying for a child for decades.

For me, this has been a 30-year journey.

We wanted - we got married, and we wanted four children -

we wanted a whole houseful because we came from big families.

And it was like my whole identity, everything I even dreamed of,

was put on hold.

It's so hard on a couple, because my husband used to say that,

when I was on all the drugs, etc, and then if it wouldn't work,

or if I would have a miscarriage, he would say,

"It feels like a funeral around here every month."

And he was right,

because I was in mourning each time that it didn't work.

And... So, obviously, as I went through a lot of medical problems,

eventually had to have a hysterectomy,

and then of course I had to face the fact

that the biological journey was over, and then it hit me,

why am I saying that the biological journey is completely shut down?

Because it doesn't have to be for my husband.

Barbara was unable to produce eggs or carry a child.

So Dr Patel was able to source an Indian woman to donate her eggs

and a separate woman to be the surrogate mother.

My son is half Indian,

so he's going to be encouraged to explore that whole part of himself.

BABY CRIES

What's going on is he wants milk, and of course she's not here.

Hang on, honey.

-KNOCKING

-Oh, that may be Edan.

This is Edan.

Edan, the surrogate mother who carried Ceron,

is now employed by Barbara to be a nanny,

and to continue to feed him with her breast milk.

He is hungry, he was just getting a little uncomfortable.

Hey, little man. Oh, look who's here! One of your favourite people!

Look! Oh, he really wants to sit up, doesn't he?

Edan comes two times a day to actually nurse Ceron,

and when she is here, just because she adores him so much,

you know, she will play with him a little bit.

Not all surrogates get attached to the babies like she has.

Some surrogates give birth and then they go their separate ways.

But we have done that because we wanted that relationship -

we chose it,

because what could be wrong with more than one woman loving my son?

Smile, little man.

Despite the close relationship developing,

once the paperwork has been processed,

Barbara and baby Ceron will be flying home to Canada,

8,000 miles from surrogate mother Edan.

In the Surrogate House, Sundays are family days,

where the surrogate mothers have a chance to spend time

with their own children and husbands.

Vasanti is waiting for her husband to arrive.

How did your involvement with surrogacy begin?

Well, I was doing IVF since 1999,

but I never thought about surrogacy.

And when this first case where a female was born without a uterus

and they asked me for a surrogate, we could not find a single surrogate,

not only in Gujarat, but any part of India.

A pair of twins who were carried in their grandmother's womb

as she acted as surrogate...

..miracle babies were born in India to their own grandmother

because their natural mum was unable to carry them in her womb.

There was a lot of attention given to this whole case,

and that is how there were so many couples started approaching me.

And that is how we got the idea

of starting this whole programme of surrogacy.

Why is it India that's leading the way?

There are many factors contributing

in making India the surrogacy hub of the world.

First is the medical technology that the Western world trusts now.

Second is the cost.

The third is the guidelines that are favourable.

The surrogate has no right over the baby

or no duties towards the baby, so that makes it easier.

Whereas, in the Western world, most of the places,

the birth mother is considered as the mother

and the birth certificate will have her name.

All these put together makes India a very favourable destination

for doing surrogacy.

And the poverty?

The poverty part,

I would say that there are so many needy females in India.

The food, shelter, clothing, and medicine - healthcare -

is not free for all in India.

People have to fend for themselves.

Like most surrogate babies born at Dr Patel's clinic,

Sam and Jana's son has spent his first days

under watch on a neonatal ward.

It's so busy. Everybody wants to see the babies.

There's about probably 10, 15 babies in there.

They don't allow more people in the room.

It seems to be a bit like an assembly line in here.

Ours was the last baby, now it's the second last,

now it's the third last in that row.

The baby will be here on Monday released from the hospital.

We are paying today the last bills.

So the baby on Monday,

-the baby will be all our baby.

-That's right.

Even after Sam and Jana have collected their child,

it will be some time

before they are able to return with him to Australia.

We are waiting now for birth certificate.

It will be done Tuesday.

We have to ask for ten birth certificates, believe it or not.

It's got to do the entire life.

-Everyone seems to be...

-A little bit surprised about it.

But, fair enough too, because you wouldn't want to have to try to get

another copy at some point in the future. Better to ask for more.

Shoes!

I went first yesterday.

You can go first today.

This is the most happy I've seen her for a long time.

Ah, she's saying she thinks he's going to have dimples,

which wouldn't surprise, yeah.

I don't know. She looks so natural,

I think she might make the nanny redundant very quickly.

It is said that any human being is born with two basic instincts.

One to survive and one to reproduce.

Here, when we do surrogacy, we have a couple who want to procreate,

so the surrogate comes into picture who wants to survive

and here, by doing surrogacy, she gets the financial help

and her instinct to survive is fulfilled.

By denying surrogacy,

we are basically depriving these people of their basic instincts

rather than helping them go ahead

with their dream of living a good life

and their dream of having a child.

Each fortnight, Dr Patel visits the surrogate house

to check on the women's progress and hear of any concerns.

The surrogate mothers are paid in a strict system of instalments.

At six months pregnant, Vasanti has now received two payments of 600.

The surrogate get on an average 8,000 US dollars.

If it is twins, 10,000 US dollars.

If she aborts within three months, she gets the 600 US dollars.

If it's more than three months, then it's 1,200.

After six months, whatever happens,

whether the baby survives or whatever,

the surrogate gets the full payment of 8,000 US dollars.

What happens if there's abnormalities?

Look, even if it's handicapped, the contract says that the couple

has to accept the baby. The surrogate has no duty towards the baby,

so the couple will have to accept the baby, even if it is handicapped.

But now, with the technology, most of the malformations can be picked up.

Though some can be a surprise.

Once we had a baby with multiple malformations

which was detected around 18 weeks, and the baby was terminated.

As well as being in charge of all things medical and financial

at the clinic, Dr Patel also likes to influence how the surrogates

spend their fees after they've been paid.

Mina. Mina does not have a bank account.

So she has come today.

I will be signing this paper

so that she can open an account across.

So these are the typical pictures of the surrogates,

how they are using their money, we've got files of them,

whether they have done a fixed deposit

or whether they have bought a house of their own.

And why do you do that?

So that we want to see that they are being educated in the right way

and they utilise this hard-earned money in the right way.

Because they do not understand the value of the money.

This money should be put to the right use.

Some people might think they should be able to do what they want

with their money. So why are you doing that?

Yes. They are doing what they want with the money,

but once the money is there

and there will be someone who would ask for a loan

or they will use the money in the wrong way.

That is what we do not want.

Oh, pretty colours.

Barbara and her newborn son Ceron

have now spent three months living in their hotel.

Ooh, we love the colours in India!

They've started to become familiar faces around the town.

Oh! What could you show us today in some little boys' clothes?

We need light clothes for India.

Do you have any others that are really, really cute

like the elephant and the zipper one that I got last time?

I think couples that come here have longed for children for so long,

when we get these little ones in our arms,

we treasure every single moment.

We're going to be in the shade in just a second.

We're going to go look at the pretty flowers.

Want to smell the flowers?

Mm-mm-mm!

There's some little puppies...

under the slide!

Num-num-num-num-num.

Other people might say, well, some people are

just destined not to have children.

You know, is it a God-given right to have a child?

That is...it's such a difficult question to really process.

When people say, you know,

if you have all these medical problems

then you just weren't meant to have a child. Um...

You know, people are born with problems with their eyes,

people are born as diabetics.

And are they not meant to have corrective eyeglasses?

Are they not meant to have insulin?

I mean, we all have certain things that we have to bear,

and ours is infertility.

So why, since it's a medical issue,

are we not able to have medically corrective procedures

that enable us to then lead

as close to a normal life as possible?

So...why didn't you adopt?

After I had my hysterectomy, then we really thought that

that was the way. But we had so many hoops to jump through

for domestic and international adoption.

Home studies to be done by social workers,

psychiatric reports,

Interpol, you know, clearance.

And also you are going to usually get a child much older.

To be honest, most of those babies are parents of alcoholics,

drug addicted people

or any other number of problems.

So we both decided that we would even remain childless

before we would choose to have

a foetal alcohol or a drug addicted child.

You know, that was not our vision of our family

and of our child.

And really we're looking to fulfil the...

what our dream family was going to be.

Amy has come to collect her newborn baby son Christopher

and return home with him to Texas.

As commercial surrogacy is also legal in parts of the States,

American clients like Amy

can return much quicker than other nationalities.

-Are you ready?

-Yes, I am.

Have you learned everything? How to give milk, how to make milk.

-Everything?

-I have already-made milk with me!

-OK...

-So just a nipple and...

-OK, OK, OK.

-Yes.

So you can take home.

For surrogate mum Hanifa,

it's time to say goodbye to the baby she's carried.

Hello. It's OK?

Everything's OK.

He's so peaceful when he sleeps.

It's almost like you just want to leave him.

Only 26 hours on the plane and you'll be home.

Aw-w!

Five star French cuisine.

Yeah, he's sleeping.

He's got it in his mouth but he's not sucking on it.

All right, thank you.

Calm? He's calm? Yes, good.

OK, here we go.

-Thank you so much.

-Bye.

-Bye.

Excuse me.

Definitely, when you carry a child for nine months, there is a bonding.

As a mother, I would say that, yes, there is a bonding

with the baby that you are carrying.

And there's no denying...

it's painful.

I would say that it's not really painful

for 95% of the surrogates.

Only, I would say, 5%.

So far, I have delivered 500 surrogates.

I would say only two surrogates

had got a little bit of a psychological problem,

for 10 to 12 days only,

where they remembered the baby.

Home, for Vasanti,

is one room shared amongst seven.

With the money from surrogacy,

they're building themselves a larger home,

far from the villagers that know and disapprove

of what Vasanti's done.

Dr Patel's modern home sits a few miles from the clinic.

She's had to ensure her house is well protected,

having received death threats due to her work.

She lives here with her own family.

Husband Hitesh helps run the surrogacy business.

We were introduced in medical college.

There was a dance programme.

And she had more experience in dance than us,

we were all beginners.

So we were supposed to give a stage show

and a few of the people, friends, they introduced her to us

and she was managing this show.

So that's how I came to meet her.

MUSIC STARTS

SHE LAUGHS I danced for my daughter's wedding...

three years back!

My plan is to hand over the practice and the clinic

to my son who is...and his fiancee,

both of them are planning to do gynaecology

and they are waiting for their postgraduate admissions.

A lot of people would be expecting a lot of things out of me

and there'll definitely be some pressure.

Let's see if I can withstand that and come through.

My son, initially, when he was young,

and there is an article in the newspaper,

the first thing he will ask,

"Is it a positive article or a negative article?"

One of the very famous magazines in India, The Week -

in 2009, had "25 Most Controversial Indians"

and I was one of them.

I mean, the title was

You May Love Them, You Can Hate Them But You Cannot Ignore Them.

And that is when...when they read all this,

they would want to know why you are the controversial person

and why there is something wrong about it.

No, no. You have to take it with a pinch of salt.

You always are going to get some negativity.

Why is it controversial, in your opinion?

In my opinion, people may think

that a couple cannot go that far to have a baby -

asking somebody to keep the baby in her womb for nine months

rather than that they should accept childlessness.

But I initially really debated.

And I had sleepless nights, also.

I would get up in the middle of the night.

It was tough to get going.

First of all, initially when I started,

there was no awareness about what is surrogacy, what is IVF, also.

There was so much of criticism from the medical fraternity.

People used to shy away from me that, "Oh, she's doing surrogacy."

Doctors saying that this procedure of surrogacy

is unethical or immoral or it's exploitation.

And it bothers you.

To a certain extent, it hurts you, also.

And there are so many hypocrites all around

who would themselves be doing it

but openly criticising this procedure.

That hurts you even more.

'I still want to work for another ten years.

'And the success stories of each couple and each surrogate

'keeps me going.'

Having had blastocysts placed inside her two weeks earlier,

28-year-old Papiya is about to have a pregnancy test.

If it's positive,

it will be the second time she's been a surrogate mother.

INDISTINCT SPEECH

For hopeful parents,

the blood test can be the difference between starting a family or not.

For surrogates like Papiya,

it can mean her going home today with a small fee of 75

or in nine months' time with 8,000.

At Dr Patel's clinic, the surrogates receive regular check-ups,

the results of which are e-mailed to her clients.

Dr Patel has now received news on Michael and Veronica's attempt

at starting a family through surrogacy.

This is that lovely couple who has gone through a lot,

tried everything possible.

A very jolly couple.

Their attitude was very positive.

Veronica, when she had come over here,

she said that she had always dreamt

that she would be having twins one day.

For overseas clients,

the news of whether they're to become a family

is sent via e-mail.

The Beta HCG count was high so we were expecting twins.

And when we are doing her scan and seeing the twins,

We feel it's so really wonderful that her dream is being fulfilled.

How does it feel to be the person responsible for that?

I would say it's not one person, but it's a team which is responsible.

But it gives a feeling of great joy

and I would say, most importantly, job satisfaction.

It's Vasanti's last day in the surrogate house

before she's moved to the clinic.

Her children, who believed she was being treated for trapped wind,

have joined her.

The clinic is full of other expectant surrogate mothers

but a free bed is finally found for Vasanti.

INDISTINCT SPEECH

Have you ever regretted a case?

Once in a while, yes, when I feel that...

Mostly, I am being more...

..considering about the surrogate.

Once in a while, I have come across a case where the couple would say

"We don't even want to look at her."

Then you feel hurt, that "Why did I do for them?"

Had I known that they would do like this, I would have never done it.

Because money does not matter that much to the surrogate

as the love and the feeling that she gets.

It's just two sentences, that's all.

In a town centre hotel,

Barbara's surrogate, Edan, has been visiting baby Ceron

twice a day for the last few months.

It's the second time she's been a surrogate mother

but never before has she spent so long with the child.

With Barbara hoping to return home in the next few weeks,

Edan's time with baby Ceron is running out.

It's just now, when she starts to process losing him

that it's difficult.

And I think in these coming weeks,

because we're probably only here about another month, um,

it'll become a little more difficult for Edan. For us both, really.

And we've already talked a little bit about easing out of the nursing

and easing out of the time with her

so that it isn't just suddenly gone,

in fairness to both her but also obviously the baby.

At a nearby spa resort, Australian Sam and his wife Jana

now have the paperwork to return home with their son,

a process that took 37 days from his birth.

You live your whole life to have children.

You live your whole life to have children,

otherwise it's not complete.

Good times are going to be ahead and that's for sure.

Look forward to the baby growing up,

seeing the little changes every day.

You want to get back home, you want to start your life.

You pretty much aren't really starting your life in...

in blissful surroundings, as nice as it is, in this resort.

OK, with the squirrels and the nice mango trees,

the swimming pool behind you...

Just looking forward to going back

and just having all the creature comforts back home,

like the flatscreen TV.

And it'd be nice to have a thick-cut steak

which we have back home.

So, I mean, that's the goal

of anybody who has a baby born in surrogacy here,

is to get home.

We wouldn't come to India, probably, for any other reason.

Can you see why it's controversial?

I would feel that what controversial a couple may feel... or society may feel is,

that the surrogate is being used,

but I feel that each and every person in this society

is using one or the other person to go bigger.

Whether it's a corporate house, whether it's glamour world,

whether it's politics.

Nobody is spared.

It's a cruel world.

And here, there is nothing like that.

Yes, the surrogate is giving her uterus,

or being used by a couple to have a baby.

But that you do when you employ a maid.

That you do when you employ a labourer to do your task for building a house, etc.

In the surrogate house, Papiya is waiting for the result of her blood test

to see if she has successfully become pregnant.

If she hasn't, she will have to leave the house today

with only a 75 fee.

OK, thank you, madam.

After four months stuck in India,

Barbara and baby Ceron's paperwork has been processed.

Her husband Michel has joined them before they return to Canada.

I think the first sight I got of him was the back of his head,

so that wasn't the biggest thrill,

it was when he turned around and I saw his eyes

that things began to light up!

Every time I saw his face on the computer screen,

I just wanted to be here, of course.

And be with them.

We just want to get him home

and continue along our happy family journey

and hopefully be adding another brother or sister for Ceron

if we're blessed again.

Having used only two of their blastocysts trying for baby Ceron,

Barbara and Michel have three more frozen in storage at the clinic.

Before they leave for Canada, Barbara and Michel are meeting

a prospective surrogate for their potential new baby,

introduced to them by Dr Patel's husband, Hitesh.

-OK, Barbara. We are meeting your new surrogate.

-Yes.

-Her name is Duksha.

-Luksha.

-Duksha. D, D.

-Nice.

-Duksha.

-Luksha.

-D for donkey.

-Blud.

D for donkey.

-Where's the D?

-In the beginning!

-Oh, Duksha! OK.

-Yeah.

And that's the husband, Sanjay.

Hi. That's a common name, yeah.

-And they have two children, as you can see.

-Ha-ha!

-Two boys.

-Yes.

-One is seven and one is four.

Ah, OK.

-No, it's their first time.

-Uh-huh.

-She has not been a surrogate before.

-OK.

And how old is she, may we ask?

-Yeah, I was just coming to that, she's 26 years old.

-Wow!

-Did you say 20?

-Six.

26? Wow, and these kids.

She got married at a young age, very young.

-But she's young and strong enough.

-Yes.

-I can't see her standing up,

but I think she's a good enough size

that if it was twins, she would be...

There's no problem. She had no problem.

She delivered the kids at full nine months.

Do you know what their weights were? His family is big babies.

So, er, he was seven and a quarter, one month early. So...

So he would be bigger than these.

We have medically and psychologically assessed her

-and she's completely...

-The thing for us, we...

We did say you're Christian, right?

They are Christian.

Edan behind you is my surrogate for this little guy,

and she's Christian as well and we just felt better with that.

Oh, you have to talk too, apparently.

Do you have anything in that head?

-He wants you to know he would like a sister this time.

-Yes, let's see.

Right, so you are happy and satisfied with her, Barbara?

Absolutely, yeah, no problems at all. Yeah, she's good and solid enough to handle.

-That's good.

-You know, some surrogates are so tiny, so petite.

And with our structures, we need to make sure...

It's important that the first meeting vibes are positive.

-Very good, yeah, they're very positive.

-It's the important thing.

Nice to meet you.

Hey, little guy, Good to meet you.

We'll see you again. Take care. We pray for you, eh?

We pray for you in the year, and for your wife. OK?

No, I think they're lovely.

I can see that.

-Shall we go?

-Yes, I think so.

-You can follow, you can come with us.

-Come, little man.

She wants to spend every moment possible with him

-these last two days.

-I can understand.

OK, little man. Happy, happy, little boy.

OK, let's have it. Yeah.

One more, the end of a 31-year journey.

I definitely consider myself as a feminist.

Right from my childhood days, I was brought up in such a way

that just because you are a female, you cannot do this

or you can do this, is not existing because my mother herself -

I'm talking about 40 years back -

was a very strong feminist.

And that is what keeps me going

and that is what I explain to my surrogates,

that...just don't take any domestic violence,

or any nonsense from your family.

You are doing a very good job, and at the end of the day,

when you come out, you should be the leader of your family.

In what she feels is part of her feminist mission for the surrogates,

Dr Patel has introduced various lessons for them inside the house.

We want them to utilise their time in the best way.

Learn all this, and once they leave the surrogate house,

they can get some earning out of this as long as they get this embroidery work.

They can still be at home, do this work and earn some money.

So we are training them.

Same thing with this... training them as a beautician.

Because there is a good scope, they can work from home.

Later on, we are planning to start a co-operative within a year,

wherein we will find clients for them for beauty treatment, etc,

so that they can get work through us and they get earning through us.

That is the thing I want in them, to groom them overall.

Not just give a baby, finish, take your money and go away.

But change their outlook towards life.

Make her a more confident female.

And make her...self sufficient.

That is what I want to see in a surrogate.

Having been in labour for a prolonged period,

Dr Patel has opted to give Vasanti a Caesarean in order to deliver

the Japanese baby she's been carrying.

Like most newborns at the clinic,

the Japanese boy is immediately taken straight to the neonatal hospital,

where it can be collected once the parents are in India.

As Dr Patel approaches the tenth anniversary

of her surrogacy work, she has new plans.

Despite the criticism, death threats and media attention,

she wants her project to be bigger than ever before.

It's a vision that I'm seeing.

An institute for surrogacy

where total care of the gestational mother,

genetic couple and the newborn baby is under one roof.

The idea is to have a unique clinic

which could be the first of its kind in the world.

This is the main building, which is about 85,000 square feet.

And the building behind that is about 15,000 square feet.

And that is the utility area.

These are the engineers.

That's Mr Yogesh, Mr Prathik.

All of them are engineers.

This is quite ambitious. How much does a project like this cost?

Six million? Six million dollars.

Look, the whole idea is to create a nest,

where we'll have the surrogates staying

in the lower ground floor,

with various activities which they can pursue.

Upper ground will be the outpatient department,

where all the consultancy and the diagnostic department...

And the gift shop

and the gallery of the skills of the surrogates,

whatever we display, will be there.

And the second floor will be a neonatal care unit.

Then there will be serviced apartments

for the couples who come to collect the babies.

So the idea is, the couple is there, the baby is there

and the surrogate is also there, everyone under one roof.

And I am also visualising one step further.

I want most of my ex-surrogates to be employed

and have a work opportunity over there,

because some day I am thinking of a hospital

of the surrogates, run by the surrogates,

And I feel that surrogacy is one woman helping another woman.

And only a woman will understand the feeling of both these females

who are unable to live a life of their dream.

-BARBARA:

-Uh, uh, uh, uh.

We'll need a warm protector when we get...

It's the final day in India for Barbara, husband Michel

and baby Ceron.

Ah, very good.

This is his actual diaper bag

but I'm not taking it out en route, Michel.

We're a little bit pressed for time.

We've been giving all kinds of things away.

Our surrogate has gone home with about five bags of things.

She's got a new iron and a new kettle and...

Anything that we're...

you know, that's just too large for us to take back that she can use.

He is officially...you know, has his own Canada passport here,

right, as you can see.

His exit visa reads like a deportation order.

Yes, here it is.

"If he does not leave by April 2nd,

"it's punishable with imprisonment for a period of five years

"and a fine."

so I think they really want our son out of India now.

-Four months is enough!

-THEY LAUGH

SHE COOS

Cow, cow, cow, knocking on your nose.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Mummy being silly?

It's also time for Edan to say goodbye

to the baby she held for nine months

and nursed for four more.

Thank you for being so patient, little man.

Mummy's good, good boy.

I'll take the stroller down, honey.

Now I just need to run around and do some tips to all the staff.

Where's the cook?

Cook is in...room. Staffroom.

Cook's in the staffroom?

So, if you can give him one of those for us.

I gave him 700, so he already has some.

Can you break up a couple of 500s for me?

Give me some change.

And...you did a lot more for me than a lot of the others,

so you get two. OK?

Anybody has five 100s? No?

No?

OK... Well, I'll have to leave it at seven...

April 7, so 14, 21.

Is that right?

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, my goodness! Is there any room in there for us?

Those are the two Skypes, Michel and me.

Two e-mails.

Our full address.

All right.

All right. Here, let's put this...

Are you OK? You want to say your final goodbyes, or are you OK?

BABY CRIES

Give her a hug. Give Edan a hug.

Bye-bye.

Thank you so much.

It's going to be OK. We'll see you again.

OK? Love you.

BABY CRIES Ssh, ssh!

He's going to be upset. Let's just...

It's going to be hard for him.

OK?

KNOCK AT DOOR

Three days after Vasanti had a Caesarean,

she's still in the clinic recovering,

and, as yet, not seen the baby.

Do you think it's a shame that they have to do surrogacy?

-For the couple or for the surrogate?

-The surrogate, financially.

No, I don't think it's a shame.

It's a very special woman who can become a surrogate.

It's not for all.

And it's not easy to become a surrogate.

And I repeat, it takes a very, very special woman to become a surrogate.

So she should never be ashamed of it.

But instead, she should come out in the open and say proudly,

"Yes, I have been a surrogate,

"and I have changed the life of this couple."

OK. Done.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd