Juno in real life
Remember the movie Juno. In the end, the teenage single mother is confronted with a dilemma about going through with the adoption of her baby when the couple on the other side of the adoption contract gets divorced. India is not far behind in bringing this story to life. Indian women are fast turning the opportunity to be a surrogate mother into lucrative business. After all what else pays north of $15,000 for 9 months of no work and no job skills. If it’s good for both parties I say just do it.
But now a baby’s life hangs in the balance because of a serious shortcoming of the oh-so-draconian Indian judicial machinery. A Japanese baby girl born to a surrogate Indian mother remains without a parent in a Jaipur hospital because her parents-to-be got a divorce before claiming custody. The Indian mother wants nothing to do with the daughter born to her less than a month ago. So does the mother-to-be. Ikufumi Yamada, the Japanese father wants custody but Indian law prohibits adoption by single men.
Can someone prove to me that women are better parents sans the natural gift of motherhood? Especially if they have denied any interest in parenting. I think the government should set a precedent by amending the rule to allow adoption by single men. It is time men were treated without the social bias of being drunken misanthropes. Isn’t it undemocratic?
