article: When journalist Gianna Toboni traveled to India to explore the country's rapidly growing, yet unregulated, gestational surrogacy industry for HBO documentary series Vice, she didn't anticipate 'how dark' the story would get. For nearly two years, the producer and host has been reporting on current issues across the globe and has covered everything from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay to the effect of climate change on polar bears - but nothing could have prepared her for the moment when someone offered to sell her a baby over dinner while she was working undercover in India. 'It was the most heartbreaking experience that I ever had,' Gianna told Daily Mail Online. Baby business: Vice correspondent Gianna Toboni (pictured) traveled to India to explore the country's booming gestational surrogacy industry . Shady deal: The journalist from Brooklyn, New York, went undercover to meet with an agent in India who offered to get her a baby in two to three months . But the heartbreak did not end there. As Gianna quickly learned during her time working on the Outsourcing Embryos documentary, surrogacy in India is a multi-million dollar business, and one which is made all the more lucrative by the high number of American couples traveling to the country in order to use the services provided by one or more of the ‘embryo outsourcing’ agencies featured in the Vice documentary. During her time spent undercover posing as one of these people, Gianna was informed that, in order to maximize profits and ensure a final product, doctors are encouraged to implant multiple embryos in surrogates, which can lead to the surrogate having to abort one of the fetuses or give birth to multiple babies. And if an 'extra' baby is born, it isn't necessarily going home with its genetic parents. There are also issues with couples never making it to India to claim their children for whatever reasons, meaning that the newborn baby is left without a parent. For the most recent episode in the Vice series, Gianna went undercover to meet with one surrogacy agent who claimed over dinner that she could get her a Caucasian baby in two to three months - confirming that there were in fact ‘extra’ babies being sold on the black market. The agent then tried to convince Gianna and her team to buy the baby that they had brought with them to the restaurant. Shocking offer: One of the agents can be seen holding the baby that they brought to the restaurant with them . No morals: The agent eventually offered to sell Gianna and her team the baby over dinner . Gianna noted that the agent spoke with a 'shocking amount of ease' and 'talked about forging documents as if she has done it a hundred times' as she tried to sell her and her team a baby over dinner. 'It made me think it wasn't a one-off thing,' she explained to Daily Mail Online. Gianna never once considered buying the baby, but as a woman who would one day like to be a mother, she admitted that there was a moment when she thought about accepting the offer, knowing that she could provide the child with a loving home that it may never experience otherwise, particularly as it was made clear that the agent would have sold the baby to anybody. 'When I go on these stories, I am a human being first and a journalist second,' she said of her initial reaction to the offer. The sale of 'extra' babies on the black market was just one of the many shocking side effects of commercial surrogacy uncovered by Gianna and her team. In the US, surrogacy can cost hopeful parents upwards of $100,000, and Gianna explained that 'the reoccurring theme' when speaking with American agents and experts about couples hiring surrogates from other countries was money. Commercial surrogacy in India costs nearly one-sixth the amount it would in the Western World. 'That seems to be the main driver,' she explained, before noting that some prospective parents do choose foreign surrogacy because of the altruistic element. No options: Many of the surrogates who spoke with Gianna said that they decided to carry a baby because they desperately needed the money . Dormitory: The women who agree to be surrogates at Dr Nayna Patel's Akanksha Infertility Clinic have to live at the facility until they give birth . Tight quarters: Two surrogates can be see sitting on the beds in their shared room . And while American parents see the surrogacy business in India as being a ‘cheap’ alternative to the services offered at home, the amount of money made by a surrogate in India can vastly change her life, as well as the life of her family. Women can use the money to buy a home or send their own children to school, and Gianna explained that there are in fact couples who take great efforts to make sure their surrogates are a part of their lives. But there are also countless tales of financially desperate women who are recruited in the slums and coerced into signing contracts that they can't read, only to be duped out of the money they were promised. When I go on these stories I am a human being first and a journalist second . Surrogates undergo scheduled cesarean sections so doctors can ensure the greatest number of births per day. Gianna, who witnessed the high turnover rate first hand at Dr Nayna Patel's Akanksha Infertility Clinic, in the town of Gujarat, in the west of India, was nearly speechless when she saw how rapidly newborns and their parents were whisked away following a surrogate's C-section. Dr Patel maintained that the women are well taken care of and make more money than they could working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in any other profession. And while Gianna explained that some women are happy that they can provide a house for their family and put their kids through school as a surrogate, the women she and her team spoke to said they chose to be surrogates because they didn't have any other options. During the episode, a surrogate named Vasanti told Gianna: 'Nobody likes doing this.' Dishonest: Although Dr Patel maintained that she didn't search for surrogates from the slums, Gianna met a woman who said she was working for the clinic owner as tried to recruit women from a poor area . No choice: A doctor can be seen performing a cesarean section on one of the surrogates. Surrogates have to undergo C-sections so doctors can maximize the amount of babies being born in a day . Too quick: Almost immediately after this baby was born via a surrogate, the biological parents whisked the newborn away in a van as they went to return to their home country . She continued: 'I didn't have a home, so I thought I could build one by being a surrogate.’ Another surrogate named Nisha explained that she was 'helpless' and had 'no alternatives'. Gianna was overcome by many of the surrogates' desperation. 'It is really hard to hear someone talk about going through an experience that takes a toll on the body, that lasts longer than nine months and takes them away from their kids because they have to support their families and essentially survive,' she said. Gianna recalled speaking with one surrogate's husband who recently lost his job and he confessed that he was grateful his wife had the opportunity to earn money for their family as a surrogate. He made clear that he didn't force her into the role, but explained that it was necessary for their family's survival. 'It all went back to money,' Gianna noted. As a whole, Gianna said that she thinks some parents may be aware of the 'shadier side' of commercialized surrogacy, but a 'vast majority’ have no idea this dark underbelly exits. Gianna recommends that parents who are considering foreign surrogacy options should do extensive research on the agent, the doctor and the surrogate they will be working with.
highlights: Vice correspondent Gianna Toboni traveled to India to explore the country's booming gestational surrogacy industry for the HBO series .
  In the US, surrogacy can cost hopeful parents upwards of $100,000 .
  Many American couples are hiring surrogates in India because the cost is signficantly less than it would be in the Western World .
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