News Desk | The European Times | December 10, 2022
The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, passed a bill banning foreigners from hiring Russian surrogates. Married couples in which one spouse is a Russian citizen will be able to pursue surrogacy in Russia, but a child born to a surrogate in Russia will automatically receive Russian citizenship.
South China Morning Post | May 25, 2022
If passed, a newly-proposed Russian bill will bar foreigners from entering into surrogacy arrangements with Russian surrogates. This follows as Moscow’s relations with Western countries grow tense over the war in Ukraine.
Christina Weis | BioNews | March 15, 2021
This commentary addresses the recent bill amendment, proposed by the Russian State Duma, which would restrict surrogacy to heterosexual married couples with Russian residency. Current law allows heterosexual unmarried couples and single mothers, regardless of residency status, to pursue commercial surrogacy. A co-author of the bill said the restrictive amendment is motivated by last year’s COVID-19 lockdowns and travel bans, which prevented many foreign clients from collecting their surrogacy-born newborns. The Moscow Times also speculates that allowing single men and women to hire surrogates goes against Russian family values.
RAPSI | December 7, 2020
According to this article, Russia’s Civic Chamber has developed recommendations on assisted reproductive technologies, based on public hearings over the summer. These proposals will fill current legislative gaps, such as protecting children born through surrogacy and licensing intermediary surrogacy agencies.
Elena Barysheva | DW.com | October 17, 2020
This article features Vladimir, a father in Russia, who fears arrest after authorities recently threatened to arrest single men who had children through IVF and surrogacy. Critics state that investigators are using a separate human trafficking case involving surrogacy for foreign heterosexual couples as a pretext to discriminate against and criminalize gay men.
By AFP – Agence France Presse | Barron’s | August 3, 2020
Following the death of a child born to a surrogate in Moscow, a Russian probe was launched to investigate human trafficking within the highly-lucrative industry. According to the article, a number of other babies found in the same and other apartments were placed under state care. Eight suspects were arrested, among them doctors, a courier, the head of a surrogacy agency, and a surrogate.
By Andrew Roth | The Guardian | July 29, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has left an estimated 1,000 children stranded in Russia, born from surrogacy agreements between foreign parents and Russian surrogates. This article highlights the story of a British-Chinese couple from Shanghai desperately seek to gain access to a closed Russian border hoping to arrive in time for their daughter’s birth. The already convoluted circumstances have been further complicated by the recent Russian probe into human trafficking within their surrogacy industry.
By Conor Pope | The Irish Times | June 12, 2020
Oliver James, an Irish citizen living in London, traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, in April to meet his newborn baby born to a surrogate. He has spent 8 weeks trying to get travel documents to return home, but it seems the no one has yet reviewed his paperwork. Without Irish recognition of James as father of the child (established through a paternity test), his funds running low, and risk of becoming homeless, he is desperate for the Irish embassy to help them get home soon.
Legal Controversy Might Lead to Ban of Surrogacy in Russia
By RT News | March 27, 2017
Russia is considering a ban on surrogacy until a review of the existing law is complete. This article briefly explains the current status of the practice and the direction of future legislation – both of which are heavily influenced by the Russian Orthodox Church, a longstanding voice against all forms of surrogacy and public in its opinion of the practice as a threat to traditional marriage, childbearing, and family formation.
