Ukraine is a global surrogacy hub - but that could be about to end

BBC ^ | May 7 | Sofia Bettiza

[RandFan]

Karina is six months pregnant, but the foetus inside her womb is not her own.

The 22-year-old from eastern Ukraine is a surrogate, pregnant with an embryo from a Chinese couple's egg and sperm.

At the age of 17 Karina's home was destroyed when her city, Bakhmut, became one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds in the early phase of Russia's full-scale invasion.

With most of the city turned to rubble and ash, she and her partner moved to Kyiv but they struggled to find steady work.

It was when Karina was in a shop one day, with barely enough money to pay for bread and nappies for their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, that she decided to turn to paid surrogacy.

She says she never would have become a surrogate were it not for the war, which has led to millions of people losing jobs and businesses, surging inflation and a sharp drop in Ukraine's GDP.

"At first, becoming a surrogate made me angry and disappointed, but now I've just accepted it," says Karina Tarasenko who now lives on the outskirts of Kyiv in an apartment provided by her surrogacy clinic. She is pregnant with a girl.

She will earn £12,500 ($17,000), roughly double the average salary in Ukraine, though she'll get most of the money after she gives birth.

Karina had been due to receive £15,500 ($21,000), but when one of the twins she was pregnant with died, her pay was cut, as was stipulated in her contract.

....

Ukraine's parliament is now considering a bill that would introduce stricter oversight of the surrogacy industry and effectively ban access to foreigners, who make up 95% of the intended parents. The proposals have widespread support across Ukraine's parliament.

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TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Conspiracy
KEYWORDS: humantrafficking; ukraine

[Vendome]

Foetus?

Of course.....

[Governor Dinwiddie]

There's no grift which the Ukes aren't involved in.

[alexander_busek]

There's no grift which the Ukes aren't involved in.

Yeah, blame the victim here!

While I consider surrogacy ethically extremely problematic and worthy of a total ban (yeah, good luck enforcing that!), the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and North Korea is the true crime here.

Two nuclear powers have invaded a civilized European country which voluntarily surrendered its nukes (in exchange for security guarantees that obviously weren't worth the paper they were written on).

Since the beginning of history, women have been coerced into offering up their wombs to the invaders - or to other war-profiteers.

Disgusting!

Regards,

[antceecee]

Agree. This is a travesty. Disgusting travesty.

[Celtic Conservative]

Before surrogacy there was a booming trade in international adoption from Soviet era orphanages. But the only way to get the adoption approved by the government was a healthy bribe to the officials involved. I have 2 cousins who adopted children from Ukraine and they had to pay bribes to the officials.

CC