Russia set to prohibit foreigners from availing surrogacy services in the country

The speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament said on Sunday (November 27) that the country will soon adopt a law that will prohibit foreigners from taking service from Russian women as surrogate mothers. Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said this on Russia's Mother's Day.

Paid surrogacy is legal in Russia, but the practice has been criticised by religious groups as commercializing the birth of children.

"Everything must be done to protect children by prohibiting foreigners from using the surrogacy service," Volodin said on the Telegram messaging app. "We will make this decision at the beginning of December."

Volodin said that about 45,000 born by surrogate mothers have been taken abroad in the past few years.

"Child trafficking is unacceptable," he added.

"This is a large illegal business, with a turnover estimated at more than 2 billion euros. Such babies often end up in hardest situations: they become victims of crimes, including sale for transplants, they end up in same-sex couples," Volodin added.

The bill barring foreigners has been passed by Russian lawmakers nearly unanimously in its first reading in May. If it is passed by the lower house in the final third reading, it will then be reviewed by the upper house of the parliament.

Under the proposed law, only married citizens of the Russian Federation or single female Russian nationals, who can not give birth to a child for medical reasons, can use surrogate mother services. Foreign nationals won’t be entitled to the surrogacy service in Russia.

The Ukrainian government says Russia has forcibly deported more than 12,000 Ukrainian children since invading its neighbour in February, while 440 have died in the war and hundreds are missing.

Russia denies forced deportations, saying the movement of people into Russia from Ukraine has been to protect civilians from Ukrainian soldiers.

Putin met on Friday with a carefully selected group of mothers of Russian soldiers sent to fight in Ukraine telling them their sons had not died in vain.

(With inputs from agencies)

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