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(Reuters Health) - Renting out their wombs may ease financial problems for poor women in India, but new research suggests surrogate mothers there are unaware of the risks and often left out of key medical decisions about their pregnancy.

“Of the 14 surrogate mothers I interviewed, not a single one could explain the risks from having multiple embryos placed in their uterus, or having a fetal reduction or a Cesarean section,” said Dr. Malene Tanderup from Aarhus University in Denmark.

“Pregnancy is the most dangerous time in a woman’s life,” she told Reuters Health. “They have to know what they are agreeing to.”

Most countries ban commercial surrogacy, but India remains a popular destination for “rent-a-womb” tourism, which brings in an estimated $500 million to $2.3 billion annually.

The women in India who become surrogate mothers are mostly poor and uneducated. The $3,000 to $7,000 they typically earn can mean a vastly improved living situation, education for their children or the chance to start a small business.

Yet large payments to fertility clinics and lack of regulation raise worries...