A hundred babies born to surrogate mothers are stranded in Ukraine, their foreign parents unable to come to recover them due to the closure of the borders because of the coronavirus, the authorities of the country indicated on Thursday. According to preliminary information, "more than 100 babies are waiting for their parents in several medical centers," said Lioudmyla Denysova, human rights officer at the Parliament.
If the confinement is prolonged, other children will be born and "their number could reach almost a thousand," she said, citing estimates from a Kiev clinic specializing in gestation for others (GPA). The clinic currently houses 51 babies of foreign parents in a hotel it owns since the Ukrainian border was closed in March, she said.
Special authorization issued by Kiev
Only 15 of them are with their parents, who were able to enter Ukraine before the closure. "Everything seems to be going well there, it's clean (...) There are cameras that the staff use to communicate with parents, to show them their children," said Lioudmyla Denysova, adding that "each baby will be returned to his parents ”.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, foreign parents need a special permit to enter Ukraine, issued by Kiev at the request of their country of origin. But some of their embassies "refused" to intervene and "this issue is still not resolved," said the official. These include France, where surrogacy is prohibited, according to a recent article in Le Monde .
Ukraine is an increasingly popular destination for parents wanting to practice surrogacy, notably because of the relatively low price, 28,000 euros on average. According to Ukrainian law, only heterosexual couples who are married and recognized as infertile can benefit from it.
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