Surrogacy

2023

Director of the European Center for Surrogacy in Moscow received 19.5 years in prison for child trafficking

In early November 2023, the Nikulinsky Court of Moscow sentenced Vladislav Melnikov, director of the European Center for Surrogacy, to 19.5 years in prison for trafficking in children of surrogate mothers. Read more here.

The number of surrogacy programs in IVF clinics in Russia decreased by 70%

For three months - from January to the end of March 2023 - the number of procedures performed under surrogacy programs in Russia decreased by about 70%. This became known on March 30, 2023.

According to the founder of the Association of Surrogate Mothers and Oocyte Donors (ASMED) Elena Litvishko, in the first quarter of 2022, 16 couples applied for the selection of a surrogate mother, and in January-March 2023 - only four. At the same time, in 2022, the demand for surrogacy turned out to be below the level of pre-pandemic (we are talking about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic) 2019 by 50%. According to market participants, the decline in demand is due to the departure of some patients abroad.

The number of surrogacy programs in IVF clinics in the Russian Federation decreased by 70%

According to the profile clinic "Mac IVF," in 2021, despite the "covid" restrictions, the IVF procedure with the participation of a surrogate mother was carried out for 56 patients, and in 2022 only for 32 (-57%).

According to the publication "Medical Bulletin" with reference to the clinics of assisted reproductive technologies, the reduction in the demand for the service was affected by the ban on the use of donor eggs to create an embryo. The law on this matter came into force in December last year. Now, only the genetic material of a married couple or a single girl who wants to become a mother can be used to obtain embryos. Families with severe infertility can no longer create an embryo, the newspaper notes.

Demand also reduced prices for surrogate mothers, Medvestnik writes: in 2022 they rose in price by 15-25%, while the solvency of patients decreased.

They also made legislative changes. The law adopted at the end of 2022 assumes that only married Russian citizens or single women can sign an agreement for the provision of services with a surrogate mother. Foreigners are prohibited from conducting such procedures, with the exception of those who are married to a Russian citizen.^[1]

2022

Surrogacy for Russian couples will be available only in marriage

Surrogacy for Russian couples will be available only in marriage. This became known from the text of the law, which the State Duma adopted in the third reading on December 8, 2022.

Ekaterina Tyagay, partner of the Pen & Paper Bar Association, draws attention to the fact that in the final version of the bill, an unmarried man and a woman are deprived of the right to use surrogacy, as a result, a risk of discrimination is created.

Surrogacy in the Russian Federation will be available only in marriage

The indicated amendments do not take into account that the relationship between parents and children is not derived from the relationship between parents, "Tyagai explained in a conversation with Vedomosti.

At the same time, she positively assesses the fact that the early controversial amendments were not included in the final text. The age of potential parents using assisted reproductive technologies is not limited and the duration of their marriage is not required. This is more in the best interests of potential parents, added Pen & Paper, a partner at the bar.

Most of the questions from the ministries arose just in time for the procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship by children born from a surrogate mother, Vedomosti reported earlier. For example, experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) wrote in a response to the bill that simply the fact that a child receives citizenship will not strengthen control over his fate.

As the president of the association, Vladislav Korsak, told the newspaper, the fundamental point for surrogacy was already in the previously current version of the law - this is the presence of medical indications of a woman, as well as the fact that she cannot bear a child. According to him, in order to comply with this requirement, responsibility must be introduced, for example, the deprivation of the license of an organization that conducted a surrogacy service without medical indications.^[2]

Russia adopted a law banning surrogacy for foreigners

On December 8, 2022, the State Duma immediately in the second and third readings adopted a law banning surrogacy for foreigners. Married Russian citizens or single women will still be able to use surrogacy. If a child is born in Russia as a surrogate mother who has entered into a surrogacy agreement, he acquires Russian citizenship by birth.

Surrogacy is prohibited for foreigners. This will prevent the trafficking of our children, protect babies from situations when they fall into same-sex couples or become victims of crimes, including sales to organs, "said State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin.

The Russian Federation adopted a law banning surrogacy for foreigners

By the second reading, the deputies adopted an amendment according to which spouses who gave consent to the implantation of the embryo can be recorded by parents with the consent of a surrogate mother if one of them died or if the citizenship of the Russian Federation of "one of the spouses or both spouses or a single woman is terminated." Another amendment enshrines the right of former spouses to be recorded as parents of a child given birth by a surrogate mother only if the court does not find that the dissolved marriage of such persons was fictitious.

One of the authors of the law, Vice Speaker Anna Kuznetsova, said that the new measure would save 14 billion rubles of budget money that was spent on surrogacy in the interests of foreign citizens. Also, according to her, the initiative "will protect the national interests of the country and the life of 45 thousand children."

As lawyer Igor Trunov noted in an interview with Izvestia, "the ban on foreign citizens" raises many questions. According to him, it is necessary to clarify what will happen if foreigners used the surrogacy service in Russia. For example, whether it will be administrative or criminal punishment.^[3]

The head of the surrogacy agency in Kaliningrad was sentenced to prison for fraud

In November 2022, the Central District Court of Kaliningrad sentenced the founder and general director of SB-Consulting Vyacheslav Motaev to imprisonment for 1 year and 10 months in a general regime colony. He was found guilty of major fraud (Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) when concluding an agreement under the surrogacy program. Read more here.

Spanish surrogacy consultant in Kaliningrad sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for child trafficking

A Spanish surrogacy consultant in Kaliningrad was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for trafficking a child. This was reported on November 7, 2022 by the Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee for the Kaliningrad Region.

The man was found guilty of committing a crime under paragraph "z" of Part 2 of Art. 127.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (human trafficking - purchase - sale of a person committed against a person knowingly for the guilty person who is in a helpless state), the ministry said in a statement.

A representative of a Spanish company sold someone else's baby in Kaliningrad

The story began back in June 2019. The company, registered in Spain, advised those wishing to become participants in the surrogacy program. Subsequently, they were accompanied and placed in the Kaliningrad region, as well as provided care for children born to surrogate mothers.

According to the investigation, the convict was a representative of a foreign company in Russia. In October 2019, a Russian woman - a participant in the program - was transferred in Kyiv an embryo from the genetic parents of the future baby, after which the woman became pregnant. However, then the customers gave up their rights to the child they were carrying. Then the entrepreneurs decided to offer a Spanish citizen to buy out a newborn for 27 thousand euros.

A foreigner was misled about the legality of her participation in this program and the subsequent transfer of a child to her for a monetary reward, the Investigation Department of the RF IC for the Kaliningrad Region reported. As a result, she transferred to one of the members of the criminal group the required amount of 1.9 million rubles.

The surrogate mother gave birth to a girl in July 2020, and at the end of September of the same year in Kaliningrad, the newborn was handed over to a Spanish citizen along with a birth certificate issued in her name. Representatives of a foreign company were detained during operational-search activities carried out by employees of the Kaliningrad departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB.^[4]

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