Mitra, S., Schicktanz, S. and Patel, T. (eds) Cross‐Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from India, Germany and Israel, Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave MacMillan2018. 399pp $139 (cloth) $109 (ebk) Print ISBN 978‐3‐319‐78669‐8 Online ISBN 978‐3‐319‐78670‐4

Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation is an edited collection of interdisciplinary essays about the ethico-legal frameworks and socio-cultural debates surrounding surrogacy and egg donation in India, Germany and Israel. This collection combines empirical evidence from law, psychology, anthropology, social studies and bioethics, the goal of which is twofold: (i) disentangle the local, culturally specific ethico-legal and cultural frameworks of these three countries; and (ii) demonstrate the interconnectedness of local frameworks vis-à-vis experiential evidence of transnational assisted reproductive technology (ART) practices. The editors emphasise the need for such systematic comparisons of the macro (legislation, policy) and micro (gender, class and ethnicity issues) politics of different countries. The editors chose India, Germany and Israel as comparative examples because of their seemingly heterogeneous approaches to the governance of, and national attitudes towards, surrogacy and egg donation, as well as a few infamous cases of cross-border ART practices between these three countries. The collection begins by setting up the macro politics of ART in a global network of reproduction with transnational flows and takes a comparative approach to the practices and norms of surrogacy and egg donation across India, Germany and Israel. Part II features essays from India, a so-called “system in transition.” Here the authors provide a political-historical account of India's transition from a liberal stance towards surrogacy culminating in “Brand India” to its 2012 prohibition of gestational surrogacy services for foreign intended parents and its ongoing attempts to establish a national act. Salient to these essays are the inequities confronted by surrogate mothers in India in terms of compensation and autonomy, and the ethical responsibilities of intended parents seeking their services. Part III is the restrictive case of Germany where “it is illegal to tamper with ‘natural motherhood’” (p. 231). Here we get a glimpse into the various strategies of ART users to circumvent the German legal system, travel abroad for surrogacy services and negotiate stigmatisation back home. The collection concludes with the case of Israel: a pro-natal society with “state-supported” surrogacy and egg donation practices. The authors get at the roots of the state monitored surrogacy system in Israel and the inextricable link between Israel's political system and religious culture, enacted on the terrain of reproduction and technology. The strength of this edited collection lay in the convincing manner in which it presents empirical evidence, making connections and highlighting contradictions between policy, national values and the lived experiences of ART users within and across nations. The use of qualitative data is particularly effective in making these connections and contradictions salient for the reader while avoiding cultural relativism. For example, both Israel and India ban surrogate mothers from contributing their own genetic material (eggs) to the future child in a surrogacy arrangement. These laws are meant to protect intended parents by reducing the likelihood the surrogate mother will want to keep the child to which she is genetically connected, while also easing the moral and ethical discomfort intended parents may feel by taking a child away from its biological mother (Teschlade, Chapter 14). Despite this justification, Shalev (Chapter 15) points to the numerous cases in which the intended parents, often from foreign countries, were in fact the ones to break the surrogacy agreement and fail to take responsibility for the child, rather than the surrogate mother claiming the child as their own. This example illustrates the need for more social science data in policymaking that can illuminate the experiential outcomes of policies, which are complex and often unanticipated. I appreciate the editors’ efforts to provide a fulsome picture of surrogacy and egg donation in the glocal context. Some of the essays were less effective than others and attempted to do too much with the limited space provided. The editors admit they provide only a “cursory look” (p. 49) at the state of surrogacy and egg donation across these three countries. This collection also demonstrates the difficulty of cross-cultural comparison when the state of ART, a biotechnoscientific entity, is constantly in flux, innovating and changing the way users relate to one another in a globalised market. As a reader, I would have benefitted from a conclusion chapter in which the editors engaged with the essays presented and theorised potential ways forward. In summary, this edited text is an ambitious and convincing cross-cultural comparison of the ethical, legal, and socio-cultural frameworks of India, Germany and Israel. The editors and authors provide no easy answers to the question “what is the right way to legislate ART”? The reader is left to ruminate on the transnational implications of each form of governance. Stakeholders and policymakers would benefit from reading this collection because of its use of qualitative evidence from multiple disciplines to illustrate the local and transnational consequences of specific regulations for users of ART, which may or may not contradict their assumptions about what legislation is intended to accomplish.

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