Babies born by GPA in Kiev expect their parents blocked by coronavirus - France 24

Kiev (AFP)

Under a crystal chandelier, infants are lying in glass cradles: born to surrogate mothers, they wait in a Ukrainian hotel for their foreign parents, who cannot come to fetch them because of the coronavirus.

This establishment in the suburbs of Kiev receives around fifty babies in this case, aged from five days to several weeks. Among them, around twenty are Chinese, twelve German, six Spanish, four Italian and four French.

During an AFP visit on Friday, masked and gloved nurses gave them the bottle and changed their diapers.

Owned by the BioTexCom reproduction clinic, the "Venice" hotel normally serves as the first meeting place between newborns and clients of the company who have used surrogacy.

Ukraine, one of the poorest countries in Europe, is a popular destination for infertile couples wanting to practice surrogacy because the legislation is relatively liberal and the prices moderate.

But since the Ukrainian border was closed in mid-March to stem the coronavirus pandemic, many parents have been unable to pick up their children.

- Weeping parents -

"More than 100 babies are waiting for their parents in several medical centers," said Lioudmyla Denysova, human rights officer at the Ukrainian parliament.

If the confinement is prolonged, other children will be born and "their number could reach almost a thousand," she added.

Due to the pandemic, parents wishing to pick up their babies need special authorization to enter Ukraine, a document issued by Kiev at the request of the nationals' country of origin.

However, several foreign embassies have "refused" to intervene and "this issue is still not resolved," say the Ukrainian authorities.

A government source in Kiev told AFP that the refusal came from the French, Spanish and Italian authorities, countries in which commercial surrogacy is illegal.

At the BioTexCom clinic, which claims half of the Ukrainian market, a GPA costs between 40,000 and 65,000 euros. For their part, surrogate mothers can receive up to 28,000 euros, according to BioTexCom.

"Of course, this is a complicated situation," says the owner of the clinic, Albert Totchilovsky, while ensuring that the children are "in ideal conditions".

"When parents have been expecting their baby for twenty years, we think they can wait another month. But when you talk to them, you realize that they can no longer wait," he adds. "Parents get very nervous, they start to shout".

- Reserved flights -

Faced with this deadlock, the clinic published a video at the end of April showing the babies and calling on foreign capitals to help their nationals wishing to pick up their children.

The video drew media attention and sparked the intervention of Ms. Denysova, human rights officer in the Ukrainian Parliament. She promised to obtain entry permits for parents who were refused by their embassy.

"When there are fifty, seventy or eighty couples who call you and half of the women cry during the interview, we are obliged to take such measures", argues Mr. Totchilovsky, the director of the clinic .

Asked by the press on Friday, Denysova said the first parents should be able to enter Ukraine in "a few weeks". According to her, some have already booked charter flights and are only waiting to receive an authorization.

© 2020 AFP