Daylife photo by AFP/Getty Images

A 3-month-old girl born to an Indian surrogate mother has flown to Japan to join her biological father after spending the first months of her life in legal limbo.

Baby Manjhi was conceived when a Japanese couple paid a clinic in India to have the husband’s sperm and an anonymous donor’s egg implanted in the womb of an Indian surrogate.

The plan worked. But a few months before Manjhi was born, the couple divorced. The intended Japanese mother decided she did not want the baby.

Manjhi was born on July 25. Her father, Ikufumi Yamada, and grandmother traveled from Japan to pick her up and take her to her new home. But Indian law stipulates that a mother must be present in order for a baby to receive a passport…

Manjhi’s father looked into a legal adoption, but Indian law does not allow single men to adopt…

The case garnered international headlines. Eventually, Manjhi was issued a birth certificate with just her father’s name on it. And on Saturday, she left for Osaka to be reunited with him.

Nice to see good news supersede bureaucracy. The wee ‘un gets to go to her Dad’s homeland and he gets the beginnings of a family founded in choice. Which trumps politics any day.




  1. James Hill says:

    That’s a nice story. Hopefully they charge the intended Japanese mother with the legal bills.

    Did you find this because you’re officially burned out on political stories?

  2. eaze says:

    Doesn’t anyone else think that getting other people to have your children is just plain wrong?

  3. James Hill says:

    #2 – I don’t, because there are plenty of people who can’t have kids on their own.

    Now, I’d prefer to see more of an emphasis on adoption, and making sure people are stable enough for parenthood (as the to-be mother clearly wasn’t).

  4. john says:

    #2
    If the surrogates were being forced to do it against their will then I would say it’s wrong. As long as they are making the choice then I don’t see a problem with it.

  5. skyspy247 says:

    JamesHill said:

    “making sure people are stable enough for parenthood (as the to-be mother clearly wasn’t).”

    The article said the intended parents got a divorce … Not that she was found unstable.

    What fertile (sorry) imaginations we have or at worst “jumping to conclusions – itis”

    Peace out

    Congrats on reaching Election day !!

    /T.

  6. hhopper says:

    This is unbelievable! Now they’re outsourcing babies to India!

  7. Floyd says:

    This story’s been in the papers for a couple of weeks. I’m glad it turned out right, and that the father got permanent custody of Manjhi despite the odd bureaucratic laws of India.

  8. sargasso says:

    #6. Yes! “Hello, my name is Yoko, how may I have your child”?

  9. James Hill says:

    #5 – If someone agrees to everything involved with a surrogate pregnancy, then backs out to the point of getting a divorce, something’s wrong. I highly doubt it’s as simple as cold feet.

    #5’s comment applies more to #4.


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