India’s Last-Chance Parents

Photos of an Indian fertilization clinic that's giving elderly couples another shot at having children.

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

 

While in most cultures children are a blessing, in India, their absence has been traditionally viewed as a curse. With the pressure to procreate so high, desperate couples have long sought help; today, that help often takes the form of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Using these procedures, women well past child-bearing age -- even post-menopausal women in their sixties and even seventies -- are queuing up for a last shot at parenthood, with results that can seem almost Biblical.

While this may seem dangerous to some, the clinics aren't likely to go away. As Anuj Chopra reports in FP, the business is not just a family affair: It is an industry on track to be worth $2.3 billion in 2012, and the Indian Law Commission described it as a "pot of gold."

Above, once such family, the Biranjes, at their home in Kolhapur. Mahadev Biranje, a 68-year-old sugarcane farmer, sits with his two wives. His first wife, Akatai Biranje, shown on the right, was unable to conceive a child after many years of marriage. Next to Akatai stands her younger sister, Kisabai Biranje, who Mahadev later married in an attempt to have a child. Both wives live with Mahadev in the same house (the legal status of their marriage is unclear). Kisabai gave birth to daughter Madhura after undergoing IVF treatment at Dr. Satish Patki's clinic.

Subash Sharma