Assembling the Global Baby

In a hospital room in Crete, a Bulgarian woman will deliver a baby whose biological father is Italian, biological mother is an anonymous European, and whose birth is being arranged from Los Angeles.

Rudy Rupak, chief executive of PlanetHospital, searches the globe to find all the components for his business of creating “global babies.” India has become a magnet for his line of business due to legalized surrogacy since 2002, an ample supply of surrogates and egg donors, and few regulations on surrogates.

PlanetHospital’s services range from $32,000 to $68,000 compared to $200,000 for a surrogate in the United States. In addition to the monetary benefits, surrogates in poorer countries have few legal rights to the baby, meaning that the surrogate is less likely to try to legally claim the child she’s carried. Finally, PlanetHospital’s services can assist couples who aren’t able to adopt in the United States due to age, homosexual status, or other obstacles.

The process also has its drawbacks. Sometimes the clinic creates more than one fetus, forcing the parents to decide whether to abort or have multiple babies. Further, some babies have trouble acquiring a passport.

“Mr. Rupak is a pioneer in a controversial field at the crossroads of reproductive technology and international adoption.”

Tamara Audi and Arlene Chang, Assembling the Global Baby, W.S.J., Dec. 10, 2010.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this to my attention.