Ukrainian surrogate moms FORCED to return to war zone to birth wealthy Westerners' babies
Complex legal requirements demand that Ukrainian women carrying the babies of wealthy Westerners remain in their war-torn country to give birth. The moms-to-be in one Kyiv surrogacy clinic are required to give birth in a bomb shelter-turned-maternity ward, despite the ongoing bombing resulting in civilian deaths.
As the attacks by Russians worsened, a number of women at the BioTexCom clinic had to flee, only to be brought back to the medical center closer to their due date, a legal adviser for the surrogacy center, Denis Herman, told Newsflash. Surrogacy is banned in various places proximal to Ukraine, he advised the surrogates to not give birth in neighboring countries. Herman said that if the women gave birth outside of their home country, there would be “lots of problems with the paperwork and establishing a parent-child relationship, because under the legislation of these countries, a legal mother is always a woman who gave birth to a child regardless of a genetic relationship."
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To help the women, the Kyiv clinic made arrangements for a bomb shelter to be turned into a makeshift maternity ward. “The roads are very risky, and the railway stations are still overcrowded,” Herman said. “So, there is a risk for the health of the surrogate mother and the unborn child.”
Surrogates, however, are concerned that the parents will not be able to pick up the children they paid for, although BioTexCom’s price range is lower than that of the United States. “Of course they are worried, and one of their concerns is when the parents will manage to come and pick up the baby after childbirth,” Herman said. “We are in constant contact with all of the surrogate mothers. We assist them in relocation if needed.”
Meanwhile, Russia sank to a new low after it bombed a maternity and children's hospital in the city of Mariupol as part of an airstrike. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack a war crime and said that a number of people are trapped under the wreckage. A regional official told Ukrainian media that at least 17 people, including staff and patients, were injured. However, no deaths have been confirmed.
"We don't understand how it's possible in modern life to bomb a children's hospital. People cannot believe that it's true," Mariupol Deputy Mayor Serhiy Orlov told BBC. According to the Mariupol city council, the attack has caused "colossal damage".
Zelenskyy posted footage of the wreckage caused by the strike. "Mariupol. Direct strike of Russian troops at the maternity hospital. People, children are under the wreckage. Atrocity! How much longer will the world be an accomplice ignoring terror? Close the sky right now! Stop the killings! You have power but you seem to be losing humanity," he captioned the video.
Just hours before the hospital was attacked, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said that as many as 3,000 babies were surviving without food or medicines. He said that a humanitarian corridor is needed for them to be able to flee. Although Moscow had promised a ceasefire in the city so that civilians could be safely evacuated, it failed to keep its word.
