towards a ban on the use of surrogate mothers for foreigners – RT in French

Denouncing an “illegal trade” and the fact that infants often find themselves in “disastrous situations”, the President of the Duma announced that the Russian Parliament was going to vote to ban surrogacy for foreigners.

Duma Speaker Viatcheslav Volodin explained on November 27 that the ban on surrogacy for foreigners should be voted on by Parliament next December, according to the Tass news agency, which quotes its Telegram channel.

“Surrogacy should be prohibited for foreigners. […] Everything must be done to protect children by prohibiting foreigners from using the service of surrogate mothers. This decision will be adopted at the beginning of December,” he wrote.

The Duma speaker insisted child trafficking was unacceptable, pointing out that in recent years “45,000 babies born to surrogate mothers” had been taken abroad. “It is a huge illegal trade, the turnover of which is estimated at more than 2 billion euros. These babies often end up in disastrous situations: they are victims of crimes, including the sale of organs, and end up in homosexual couples,” he said.

According to the bill, only married Russian citizens or single women – Russian citizens but who are medically unable to carry or give birth to a child on their own – will now be able to use the services of surrogate mothers, who will have to even be Russian citizens. In addition, the bill assumes that children born to surrogate mothers receive Russian citizenship permanently. The text, which had been adopted at first reading in the Duma in May, should therefore be adopted at second reading next December.