Priyanka Chopra daughter: When superstar Priyanka Chopra welcomed her first child, Malti Marie Chopra Jonas, via surrogacy last year, little did she know what awaited her. The baby is a little over a year old now but the barbs and taunts have not stopped coming PC’s way. She has been accused of “womb renting”, “outsourcing” her pregnancy, or “readymade babies”.
Controversial in India
The backlash that Priyanka received has put the issue of surrogacy in spotlight. Surrogacy is a process whereby a woman gives birth on someone else’s behalf. The issue remains controversial in India even though a number of celebrities including Shilpa Shetty, Preity Zinta, Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan have had babies via surrogate.
In a recent interview to a magazine, Priyanka said that just because she had her baby through the process did not give anyone the right to public shame her. She had she had her reasons which warranted this decision and that was a private matter: “You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through. And just because I don’t want to make my medical history, or my daughter’s, public doesn’t give you the right to make up whatever the reasons were,” she said.
A ‘necessary step’ for PC
Priyanka revealed she had medical reasons which made surrogacy a “necessary step.” She added, “I’m so grateful I was in a position where I could do this.”
It’s cruel to think that Priyanka faced no difficulties in her motherhood journey because she didn’t carry a child. It’s not right to think that biological mothers have a deeper connection with their babies because they have carried them in their womb for nine months. It is problematic to assume that biology is what makes people parents.
Doesn’t this undermines the love of adoptive parents for their kids? And what about post-birth connections? Also, doesn’t this trivialise the role of the father since he is not the one who brings the child into this world?
Parenting life-long process
Parenting is a life-long process and involves love, nurturing, caring and commitment in equal measures. Priyanka herself summed it up best when she described what it was like to hold Malti’s frail tiny hands after her premature birth: “I know what it felt like to hold her little hands when they were trying to find her veins.”
Being there for your child, nurturing another human being, is what parenting is all about. All pre-conceived perceptions about surrogacy are pretty misguided.
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