Kenneth Glad
A proposed change is drawing attention to a sensitive cross-border industry. The debate centers on regulation, responsibility and the pressures facing people on both sides of the arrangement.
A proposed law could sharply reduce foreign access to a commercial surrogacy industry that has long operated in Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion has deepened poverty for many families, while also exposing gaps in who is responsible when surrogacy arrangements break down.
Ukraine may soon bar most foreign intended parents from using its surrogacy services, according to BBC.
The country has long been viewed as one of the world’s leading commercial surrogacy destinations after the United States.
A bill aimed at overseas clients
Ukraine’s parliament is considering a bill that would tighten oversight and effectively close access to foreign clients, who the BBC reported to make up about 95% of intended parents.
The issue is especially complicated in cross-border cases, where pregnancy, payment, citizenship and legal parenthood can involve more than one country. Under Ukrainian law, the intended parents are legally responsible for the baby after birth.
Supporters of the bill say wartime hardship has made some women easier to recruit. They also argue that, with Ukraine’s birthrate falling during the war, it is harder to defend Ukrainian women carrying babies for families overseas.
A surrogate after Bakhmut
The BBC report highlighted several cases showing why the issue has become so divisive. One is Karina Tarasenko, 22, who became a surrogate after leaving Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city devastated after Russia’s full-scale invasion.
She is carrying a baby for a Chinese couple and expects £12,500, about $17,000. Her fee was reduced after one twin died, as permitted under her contract.
“At first, becoming a surrogate made me angry and disappointed, but now I’ve just accepted it,” she told the British broadcaster.
Women’s rights activist Maria Dmytrieva added: “Because of the war the number of women who are desperate is growing, and clinics offer them this opportunity because Western couples want to buy babies cheaply.”
When intended parents walk away
Critics say some clinic campaigns used sales-style messaging for a process involving pregnancy and legal parenthood.
BioTexCom, one of Ukraine’s largest surrogacy clinics, defended its advertising when questioned by the BBC, saying it helped draw attention to surrogacy.
Some of the most difficult cases involve babies whose intended parents do not take custody after birth. Wei, for instance, is a five-year-old with severe disabilities who now lives in a Kyiv state home after his intended parents disappeared.
Families who have used Ukrainian clinics say those cases do not reflect every surrogacy arrangement. Himatraj and Rajvir Bajwa, a London couple, had a son last year through BioTexCom after years of failed attempts to have a child.
“They gave us something we never thought possible – they’ve made us a family,” Himatraj said.
Sources: BBC
