The Cost of a Child
Since Greece legalised surrogacy in 2002, it has become a global hub of reproductive tourism. The surrogacy industry has never been so profitable, but has the commodification of women's bodies gone too far?
Dr Pantos is the director of Greece's most prolific surrogacy clinic. Known as 'Fertility Elvis', he has helped the creation of 40,000 'miracle babies', to couples from as far away as India and China. "We have hundreds of couples coming from all over the world", he said. "They come here for our excellent pregnancy rates because of legal reasons: in some countries egg donation or surrogacy is not allowed, here in Greece it is". Yet in traditional Greek society, surrogacy remains taboo, and the surrogate mothers in the clinic waiting room are not locals, but eastern Europeans. Maria, a 35-year-old Bulgarian woman living in Greece, is carrying another couple's child. "I am happy to know that the babies are growing well...everyone should have the chance to have a child, just like I did". But Paula, an unemployed single mother also from Bulgaria, worries about becoming a surrogate to fund her daughter's move to Greece. "It's something that demands you to be strong, it's not easy". In a world where even the womb cannot escape globalisation, has Greece sacrificed the ethics behind its legal framework to get ahead?
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