If ever a reason to outlaw surrogate pregnancy was needed, this is it. A baby born in India for Japanese parents has been left homeless after the waiting parents got divorced.

Because of Indian law, the baby’s father (the Japanese man) cannot take custody of the baby because he has divorced the baby’s mother (well, not the baby’s real mother).

The man and his wife arrived in India, in Ahmedabad, 12 months ago to find a surrogate mother to give them a child. However while the mother was pregnant with the baby, the Japanese couple were divorced.

Because of bombings in Ahmedabad, the baby was moved for her safety to a new location, where she is now. The father wants to take the baby back to Japan, but he has to leave India due to an expired visa.

Sanjay Arya is a doctor looking after the baby:

Doctor Yamada got divorced around mid-June, and after his divorce, he came alone to claim the custody of the child. But, according to the Indian laws, a single father cannot adopt a girl child. This is a major legal hassle arising in this case. But the question is when the child has father’s 50 per cent DNA, where does the point arise of him having to adopt the child as he is her natural father.

Due to the lapse laws in India, it’s become a major destination for surrogate births. However, as parents have to adopt the children they want from the surrogate mother, the adoption laws in India make it difficult for single men to adopt girls. This is where the girl’s father is having trouble.

The real loser in all of this of course is the baby girl herself, who is being kept from her father and was born to a mother who didn’t want her, she only wanting paying for giving birth to her.

Clive Bellmore