“Do everything to protect children”: Volodin announced a ban on surrogacy for foreigners in Russia

In early December, a decision will be made at the legislative level in Russia to ban surrogate motherhood for foreigners.

This was announced in his Telegram channel by the speaker of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin.

“Everything must be done to protect children by forbidding foreigners to use the service of surrogate motherhood.

We will make such a decision in early December,” he wrote.

Volodin recalled that over the past few years, 45,000 babies born in this way have been taken out of Russia.

According to him, the turnover of "this big illegal business" is estimated at more than €2 billion.

“Child trafficking is unacceptable,” Volodin said.

“Such kids often find themselves in the most difficult situations: they become victims of crimes, including sales for organs, fall into same-sex couples.”

Earlier, the Vice Speaker of the State Duma and one of the authors of the initiative, Anna Kuznetsova, expressed the hope that this bill would be adopted in December.

“The text of the bill is ready for the second reading, today we are going together to protect our children,” TASS quoted her as saying.

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family, Women and Children Elena Vtorigina noted the relevance of the problem.

“At a time of unprecedented external pressure on our country, we need to take care of Russian families first and foremost.

So I fully support the proposal of Vyacheslav Viktorovich, ”explained the interlocutor of RT.

In turn, Viktoria Fedosova, Deputy Director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, noted that foreigners used Russia for surrogate tourism, and a whole shadow business was formed.

“And it was necessary to ban such activities a long time ago.

For many years, our women were used as an incubator, and children were a black market commodity.

No one will give security guarantees to such children; the health of women in labor who are looking for such a “business” is also not considered: most often they are desperate and defenseless women.

We are talking about a ban on surrogacy for foreigners, it does not apply to the procedure itself: for those citizens of the country who for some reason cannot have children, this possibility remains, ”the expert explained in an interview with RT.

A bill prohibiting the provision of surrogacy services to foreign citizens and stateless persons was submitted to the State Duma in December 2021.

Its authors were vice-speakers of the lower house of parliament Pyotr Tolstoy and Anna Kuznetsova, chairman of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Vasily Piskarev, and Senator Margarita Pavlova.

“We are forced to such a decision by cases of death and trafficking in children born by surrogate mothers for foreign citizens and stateless persons.

These facts have repeatedly come to the attention of law enforcement officers, and especially often during the pandemic, ”Piskarev noted.

According to the initiative, only married citizens of the Russian Federation or a single woman - a Russian citizen who, for medical reasons, cannot bear or give birth to a child on her own, will be able to use the services of surrogate mothers.

Another parameter of the initiative is the fact that a child acquires Russian citizenship by birth if none of the potential parents is a Russian citizen.

According to Piskarev, such an innovation will allow the Russian authorities to control the further fate of the newborn.

“In the Russian Federation, children are the most important priority of state policy and childhood is under the protection of the state.

The main task of our state is to guarantee the protection of the future of Russia - our children - from external and internal threats, as well as to clearly predict all potential challenges and risks, ”the explanatory note says.

In May 2022, the bill was passed on first reading.

He was supported by 415 deputies.

As noted by the Vice-Speaker of the State Duma Pyotr Tolstoy, for the second reading, the parliamentarians received remarks "with far-fetched arguments from the federal executive authorities." 

"What does this mean?

A woman gives birth to a child, he does not receive citizenship of the Russian Federation by right of birth on the land of Russia, then he receives the citizenship of a nominal father and travels with him outside the Russian Federation, ”the deputy explained.

According to him, in such situations, border control authorities have no right to control the movement of such children, and consular departments and representative offices of the Russian Federation abroad do not have the authority to track their fate.

“We took into account the position of the Foreign Ministry that the situation of children taken abroad will be determined by the norms of the state of their permanent residence, but the task is still to ensure that such children have the opportunity to communicate and be protected by the Russian state.

And if the child has Russian citizenship, then the same consular departments have such a right, ”concluded Tolstoy.