Surrogate motherhood: genes. Laws governing the main provisions of surrogacy

Surrogate (substitute) motherhood means the bearing and birth of a child conceived through in vitro fertilization. At the same time, the genetic material that becomes the basis of a new life does not belong to the woman herself, but to strangers for her, who, for whatever reason, cannot have offspring themselves.

The opportunity to use the services of a surrogate mother for many single people or infertile couples is the only way to get genetically related children. The method is in great demand, despite the need for significant financial investments.

Most Russians consider substitute motherhood to be something exotic and not entirely ethical. This is facilitated by the wide spread of various misconceptions.

Source: depositphotos.com

"Surrogate" children are different from "normal" children

A child born as a result of surrogacy is neither physically nor mentally different from their peers, conceived naturally or born by a biological mother who became pregnant through the IVF procedure. On the contrary, this baby has a higher chance of being born healthy - without genetic abnormalities and intrauterine developmental defects. The fact is that the procedure of artificial insemination of a surrogate mother is preceded by a thorough medical examination. With the same attention, doctors study the health status of future biological parents. Fertilized eggs prepared for the IVF procedure are selected in order to exclude possible anomalies. Bearing a "surrogate" baby, his birth and the first months of life are also under the strict supervision of specialists.

This cannot be. The genetic material that determines the features of appearance, such a child receives from biological parents. Fertilization and the first divisions of the embryo occur in a test tube. At the time of placement in the body of a surrogate mother, it has a complete set of genes that can no longer be supplemented. In the future, the baby will become like his mother and father. A woman who carried and gave birth to a child does not pass on any hereditary qualities to him.

"Surrogate" child is threatened with infertility in the future

In children born from surrogate mothers, no specific malformations of the reproductive system are observed. Moreover, substitute motherhood has officially existed for more than 40 years, and the first "surrogate" children have long become adults and have their own families. Among them, not a single case of infertility, directly due to the circumstances of conception, gestation or birth, has yet been registered.

The biological mother of the child must be young

This is not true. The only condition for the use of the replacement motherhood method in this case is the ability of the biological mother's body to produce live eggs, which is possible not only during the period considered optimal for bearing a child, but also after a woman reaches 40 years of age, when pregnancy and childbirth are associated with certain risks.

Among the biological parents who resort to the help of surrogate mothers, there are many people who for a long time tried to have children, were treated for infertility, resorted to artificial insemination. In most cases, the biological mother is no longer very young. Often, substitute motherhood is resorted to by women who have missed the optimal age for bearing due to a passion for their careers.

The mature (over 40 years) age of the biological mother with any method of conception has an increased risk of the birth of a baby with developmental disabilities. A thorough check of fertilized eggs before their implantation in the body of a surrogate mother can significantly reduce this risk. In addition, today a woman has the opportunity to take advantage of the achievements of scientific and technological progress and store the eggs taken at the optimal reproductive age in frozen form for subsequent fertilization. At the same time, the probability of having a healthy child increases.

For conception, the egg of a surrogate mother is used

In most cases, family couples who are able to give normal germ cells resort to substitute motherhood. However, there are exceptions: sometimes, due to the unsatisfactory state of the reproductive system of future biological mothers, eggs are taken from their blood relatives (for example, sisters).

In some cases, single men wish to use surrogate motherhood. In such a situation, the future father has the opportunity to use an egg taken from an anonymous donor. In Russia, since 2012, there has been a legislative restriction that prohibits a surrogate mother from becoming a donor of genetic material at the same time.

Wealthy women use surrogacy to avoid childbirth

It is impossible to exclude such cases, but if they happen, then infrequently. The fact is that the procedure for taking eggs is a very difficult task. The ovarian puncture is performed under general anesthesia. For several weeks before this, the woman is forced to take hormonal drugs that activate the maturation of the follicles. All of these procedures are unpleasant and associated with certain risks.

As a rule, surrogate motherhood is resorted to by women who cannot conceive or bear a child due to age or serious pathologies that are incompatible with pregnancy. Such a decision is usually dictated by difficult life circumstances, and not by the desire to make life easier for yourself by avoiding the hardships of pregnancy and childbirth.

Surrogate mothers often keep their children to themselves

The risk of such a development of events is not excluded. During gestation and childbirth, a woman may become attached to the unborn baby and not be able to overcome the emotional stress associated with the need to transfer it to biological parents. A future surrogate mother must take a course with a psychologist, but this does not always help.

There is also a directly opposite possibility: relatives, mother and father, may refuse a newborn for psychological or some other reasons. Although each case of substitute motherhood is accompanied by the drawing up of an agreement regulating the obligations of the parties, there is no mechanism for the forced transfer of a “surrogate” child in our country.

Fortunately, such scenarios are extremely rare. As a rule, children born by surrogate mothers safely find their families.

Surrogacy is outlawed

In Russia, surrogacy, including commercial surrogacy, has been officially allowed since 2011. It is regulated by the Federal Law "On the Basics of Protecting the Health of Citizens in the Russian Federation", a number of articles of the Family Code, as well as orders of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

Despite the fact that legislative acts have a number of significant gaps, practice has established that not only officially registered married couples, but also citizens living in a civil marriage, as well as single women and men, have the right to use vicarious motherhood. Sometimes persons who are not in a marital relationship have to prove their right to motherhood or fatherhood in court. However, these cases are becoming more and more, and it is hoped that such problems will disappear over time.

The authorities of other states treat the practice of surrogate motherhood in different ways. It actually exists but is not regulated by law in Finland, Belgium, Spain and Greece. In countries such as Great Britain, Denmark, Israel, Canada, the Netherlands, surrogate motherhood is allowed with significant restrictions (as a rule, the provision of these services on a commercial basis is prohibited). In Belarus, only those women who are unable to bear a child due to serious health problems can use the help of surrogate mothers. On the territory of France, Sweden, Norway, Austria and Germany, substitute motherhood is completely prohibited.

The development of substitute motherhood is hampered not only by delusions about its safety for the unborn child. Many consider this way of acquiring offspring to be contrary to ethical standards. There is an opinion that the use of a woman's body to carry a genetically alien fetus violates her rights and is actually exploitation. Some people equate commercial surrogacy with child trafficking. A negative attitude is supported by the heads of the main religious denominations: they believe that the practice of vicarious motherhood undermines the foundations of family relations.

Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the services of surrogate mothers allow those people who in other circumstances would be deprived of such an opportunity to become happy parents. Most likely, this practice will develop especially successfully if legislators take care to study the existing problems and create an adequate legal basis for their solution.

Video from YouTube on the topic of the article:

Barren marriages and childlessness are the misfortune of many families, as well as people who have not created their own families. That is why assisted reproductive technologies (ART) are in great demand in the world, a wide range of which is offered by modern medicine.

Why is the Church so actively opposed to surrogate motherhood?

Surrogacy- assisted reproductive technology, in the application of which a woman voluntarily agrees to become pregnant in order to bear and give birth to a child biologically alien to her, who will then be given up for the upbringing of other persons - genetic parents. They will legally be considered the parents of this child, despite the fact that a surrogate mother endured and gave birth to him.

The use of new biomedical methods in many cases makes it possible to overcome the disease of infertility. At the same time, the expanding technological intervention in the process of the origin of human life poses a threat to the spiritual integrity and physical health of the individual. (…)

In the prayers of the wedding ceremony, the Orthodox Church expresses the belief that childbearing is the desired fruit of legal marriage, but at the same time not its only goal. Along with the “fruit of the womb for the good”, spouses are asked for gifts of enduring mutual love, chastity, “unanimity of souls and bodies”. Therefore, the paths to childbearing that do not agree with the plan of the Creator of life, the Church cannot consider morally justified. (…) Artificial insemination with the husband's sex cells can be classified as acceptable means of medical care, since it does not violate the integrity of the marriage union, does not fundamentally differ from natural conception, and occurs in the context of marital relations.

The manipulations associated with the donation of germ cells violate the integrity of the individual and the exclusivity of marital relations, allowing the invasion of a third party. In addition, this practice encourages irresponsible fatherhood or motherhood, knowingly released from any obligations in relation to those who are "flesh of the flesh" of anonymous donors. The use of donor material undermines the foundations of family relationships, since it implies that the child, in addition to "social", also has so-called biological parents. “Surrogate motherhood”, that is, the carrying of a fertilized egg by a woman who returns the child to “customers” after childbirth, is unnatural and morally unacceptable even in cases where it is carried out on a non-commercial basis. This technique involves the destruction of the deep emotional and spiritual closeness that is established between the mother and the baby already during pregnancy.

"Surrogate motherhood" traumatizes both the pregnant woman, whose maternal feelings are trampled on, and the child, who may subsequently experience a crisis of self-consciousness. Morally unacceptable from the Orthodox point of view are also all varieties of in vitro (out of body) fertilization, involving the preparation, conservation and deliberate destruction of "excessive" embryos. It is on the recognition of human dignity even for the embryo that the moral assessment of abortion, condemned by the Church, is based (see XII.2).

The fertilization of single women using donor germ cells or the realization of the "reproductive rights" of single men, as well as persons with the so-called non-standard sexual orientation, deprives the unborn child of the right to have a mother and father. The use of reproductive methods outside the context of a God-blessed family becomes a form of theomachism carried out under the guise of protecting human autonomy and misunderstood individual freedom.

In Russia, surrogate motherhood is regulated by the following legislative acts and regulations:

1. Family Code of the Russian Federation, art. 51-52.
2. Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of the health of citizens of 22.06.93. No. 5487-1, art. 35 "Artificial insemination and embryo implantation".
3. Law "On acts of civil status" dated 11/15/97. No. 143-FZ, Art. 16
4. Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation dated February 26, 2003. № 67 "On the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in the treatment of female and male infertility".

To register a child (children) born by a surrogate mother, parents must submit the following documents to the registry office: medical birth certificate, consent of the surrogate mother, certificate from the IVF clinic.

Now, in the absence or pronounced inferiority of the uterus of an infertile woman, another woman is involved in carrying the pregnancy - the so-called " surrogate mother". This naming itself is a form of discrimination against a woman carrying a pregnancy. Sometimes a surrogate mother is compared to a breadwinner who helps a needy family for altruistic reasons, but do not forget that there is still too much "difference in the intensity of the relationship between the surrogate mother and the fetus and the nanny and the child."

There is a danger of turning surrogate motherhood into a profession. In the process of carrying a pregnancy, mother and child are in a state of constant communication, a deep psychosomatic connection arises between them, the rupture of which, due to contractual obligations, can lead to severe mental illness.

What does the legal permission of surrogate motherhood lead to?

"Surrogacy akin to prostitution. Because a woman uses her body to give birth to someone, well, for his pleasure. The pleasures of being a father, a mother. Therefore, naturally, the Church cannot be for prostitution. She has always, from time immemorial, been against it.

Surrogate motherhood, as well as just prostitution of a person - both a man and a woman - humiliates. The fact is that God did not create man as an instrument for the pleasure of other people. In this case, they are put in an unequal position - it turns out that one pays the other not for his work, not for his talent, but for the exploitation of what was given to him by God - his own body. Man is used as a kind of farm for growing people. This is, of course, a completely ungodly thing."

Since the topic of social inequality is mixed into the problem, because, according to Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov,

“surrogate motherhood is, of course, a technology by which the rich exploit the poor. Because this contract, these procedures and the provision of medical care are all an expensive multi-month process. It turns out merciless, impudent and shameless exploitation of the poor by the rich. If we live in a welfare state, we should not have this.

Even 100-200 years ago, people said that prostitution is the exploitation of the poor by the rich, because people from the rich do not become prostitutes. It's the same here. It is hard to imagine that the daughter of the president of a large company would go and become a surrogate mother. No, this is the lot of young, good, but not very, maybe, intellectually developed girls from the countryside, from some working suburbs, and so on.

Why is IVF an inhuman technology?

From the moment the fetus is conceived, the Church considers it to be a person with an immortal soul.

“Although this person has not yet taken shape, but this is already a person with an immortal soul. And he continues to live in eternity,” notes

IVF technology requires huge numbers of embryos to be frozen in refrigerators.

“It is very scary that so many children who have a soul are in some kind of condition in refrigerators. And it is not known what will happen to them next: they may never become human. This technology is scary and inhuman.”

Does God dislike the happiness of parents who have received a child from a surrogate mother?

Medical statistics claim that about 20% of couples cannot have. The way out of this situation is surrogate motherhood. This gives a chance to have a child to those families who have problems conceiving. In this article, we will consider what surrogate motherhood is, who a surrogate mother is, and what requirements may be for her.

Surrogate mother

Consider who a surrogate mother is. This is a woman who is transplanted into a ready-made embryo for bearing. She has no genetic connection to him. The embryo is obtained as a result of IVF (in vitro fertilization), using the gene material of biological parents. The surrogate mother bears someone else's child for 9 months, and after giving birth she gives it to the biological mother. Before dealing with the requirements for a surrogate mother, it is necessary to understand in what situations one should resort to using the services in question. The main problem is women's. There can be many reasons, such as uterus, repeated failed IVF attempts, absence of a uterus.

Did you know?The world's first child from a surrogate mother was born in 1989 in the UK.

Requirements for a surrogate mother

Biological parents are very serious about the woman who will carry their baby. A surrogate mother should carefully monitor her health throughout. If a woman is an athlete, then she should adjust the level of physical activity. should be correct - this will also be monitored by the genetic parents.

An important requirement for a surrogate mother is consent to conclude a contract. It is expressed in writing and signed consciously, without coercion.

Important!If the surrogate mother is married, then the written consent of the husband is required.

One of the requirements is to have regular medical check-ups with the husband if they live together.

List of mandatory requirements

A woman can become a surrogate mother if:

• her age is between 20 and 35 years;
• she is healthy on a physical and mental level;
• she has at least one child born naturally;
• she has no bad habits;
• she had no abortions, miscarriages, premature births and
• she is not overweight.

How to find such women

Consider how to find a surrogate mother. Basically, they are women who are ready to help other people's families and at the same time earn money. You can find a suitable candidate for the role of a surrogate mother using the services of specialized companies. It is recommended to choose agencies with a good reputation. They look for surrogate mothers, examine them, help draw up contracts. The services of such companies are not cheap. The amount includes the search for a woman, IVF,. Also, the surrogate mother is paid a monetary reward during the entire pregnancy and during childbirth.

You can independently search for a surrogate mother, for example, via the Internet. However, at the same time, you will not have any guarantees in conscientious performance by such a woman of the functions assigned to her.

Important! Do not spare money and contact specialized companies, because when choosing a surrogate mother on your own, you may encounter scammers.

Who usually becomes such a mother?

A woman who can bear someone else's child, as a rule, becomes a female person who meets all the requirements. Before becoming a surrogate mother, it is necessary to undergo a series of studies to confirm the absence of various diseases and a normal mental state.

Some myths

There are many myths about surrogate motherhood, which will be discussed below.

Legislation and who can become a surrogate mother

Myths about the service in question:

1. “A surrogate mother can be a female person who has at least 2 children.” According to official documents, it is enough for a woman to have 1 child to be allowed to carry someone else's.
2. “The service can be used by persons registered in marriage.” Yes, such a condition is mentioned, but it is not required. If people are not in a legal relationship, then during the registration of the baby, the data of the surrogate mother can be recorded in the “mother” column. Therefore, it is recommended to legalize the marriage before the procedure. If a single girl wants to use the service, then only after the consent of the surrogate mother, the data of the biological mother will be entered in the “mother” column.
3. "The service in question is illegal." There is a law that allows surrogacy.
4. “Many are ready to adopt a baby rather than use the services of a surrogate mother.” A surrogate mother will give birth to your genetically related child. And when adopted, the child will be a stranger by blood.
5. “An aged genetic mother cannot use the service in question.” If at least 1 egg can mature in a female person, then you can get a baby even after 45 years. But if the biological mother has menopause, then the child may develop incorrectly.
6. “The services of surrogate mothers are used by women who are afraid to spoil the figure after childbirth.” This happens, but rarely. Typically, such services are used by women who have been wanting to have a child for many years, but cannot become pregnant or carry a baby.

Did you know?Over the past 5 years, the number of people using the services of surrogate mothers has increased by almost 15%.

Will give - will not give

Myths "will give - will not give":

1. “The surrogate mother gives away her own child, because she carried him for 9 months.” She is carrying someone else's child. The surrogate mother must agree to have the names of the biological parents written in the birth book. This consent must be in writing and certified by seals.
2. “Often a surrogate mother keeps the baby to herself.” When registering the service, both parties sign a legally executed contract, which specifies all rights and obligations. A child from a surrogate mother legally belongs to her. This means that if she does not want to part with the baby, then they will not be able to take him away (Article 51, part 4). But, if the contract is executed, then the actions of the surrogate mother can be challenged in court. A woman in labor is hard to bear parting with the baby, so they prepare for separation in psychology centers, and this is almost 100% effective.
3. “A surrogate mother can keep the baby for 3 days after birth.” The law does not stipulate how long a woman must make a decision. She must agree or disagree to pick up the baby before discharge from the hospital, and this is, on average, 3 days. But the law has a general term for registering a child, which is 1 month.

Myths about what the baby will be like:

1. "The baby will have her blood." It is a myth. The circulatory systems of the baby in the womb and the mother are not connected.
2. "Outwardly, the baby will have similarities with the woman who bore him." No, the genes of the child are biological mom and dad.
3. "Children born this way are different from ordinary children." It is a myth. Such babies, as a rule, outwardly do not differ from ordinary children and have a good.

Problems faced by a surrogate mother

Women who have carried someone else's child may experience some problems:

1. Maternal instinct. At first, it seems to the surrogate mother that she will give the baby away without any problems. But for 9 months, she is very close to the child. During a breakup, a woman can get severe psychological trauma. In this case, you need to seek the help of a specialist.
2. Anxiety. Many surrogate mothers during the gestation period are too worried about the baby. They not only want to endure it and give birth healthy, but also worry about its future fate.
3. Family problems. The husband and children (especially adults) of the surrogate mother also experience psychological trauma, realizing that the wife/mother is carrying someone else's baby.
4. Legal issues. There are cases when biological parents refuse a child born by another woman. Basically, this happens due to any deviations of the baby, pathologies, diseases. And then the surrogate mother can be left without money and with another child, sick and genetically alien.

Now you have learned what a surrogate mother is. Using her services is a reliable way to become parents for childless families. Therefore, if you have problems conceiving and bearing a child, you can safely contact specialized clinics where you will find a suitable surrogate mother. Of course, the cost of such a service will be much higher than with an independent search, but the probability of a successful outcome is much greater.

Surrogate motherhood is an opportunity for thousands of couples who are unable to conceive or bear on their own to "give birth" to their own child. However, agreeing to the services of a surrogate mother, you may encounter a number of problems. the site will tell you about all the pitfalls of surrogate motherhood!

“With pleasure I bear your baby”, “I will become an excellent mother to your child”, “I will use the services of a surrogate mother”, “I will give birth to your own son or daughter”, “Women are required for egg donation”…

Announcements of such content have long filled the Internet space, now they are quite common in newspapers. At first, you are just amazed. What's this? Selling children, organs, genetic material, or worse?

In fact, surrogate motherhood services, which have received "widespread in narrow circles" quite recently, on the one hand, are nothing more than the only and last hope for millions of infertile couples who dream of becoming parents, and on the other hand, a specific means to feed the already existing offspring.

As a doctor of one of the reproductive medicine clinics bitterly said: "If you do not know anything about surrogate motherhood, you are very lucky. Those people who need it vitally know the smallest details of such medical services."

It is difficult to disagree with this philosophical reasoning, however, "Women's Passions" will still lift the veil of secrecy in the difficult field of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and its commercial side.

Who needs it and why?

Surrogate motherhood is not a tribute to fashion, not elementary laziness or fear of undesirable consequences for a beautiful figure… Infertile couples in Russia (according to various estimates) are about 6 million, or approximately 17%. Think about it: this is every sixth family!

Previously, such families could have the desired baby only by adopting him. Now even those women who have been given a disappointing diagnosis by doctors have a chance to give birth to their child: obstruction of the tubes, fibroids or absence of the uterus, serious diseases of the internal organs, in which pregnancy is contraindicated, etc.

In all of these situations, pregnancy is possible if the fertilized egg of biological parents (or donors) is implanted in the uterus of a surrogate mother - a female "incubator", who carries your child for the entire prescribed period of pregnancy.

Speaking in an accessible language, another healthy woman can bear the child, who in this case will not be a "genetic" mother, but will only provide that "house" for the child, which will be protection for him for 9 months.

It is noticed that embryos take root in the uterus of another woman much better. The probability of pregnancy in this case is more than 30%.

Whose side is the law on

Naturally, statistics will not give a reliable answer to the question of how many Russian families resort to the help of surrogate mothers: parents who decide to take such a desperate step carefully guard their secret, “simulating” for neighbors and even relatives a normal one. pregnancy.

And all because these issues have not yet been resolved legislatively at the state level. That is, on the one hand, surrogate motherhood - including commercial - completely legal in Russia, unlike many European countries (Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, individual US states (Arizona, Michigan, New Jersey), France).

But on the other side, neither biological parents nor their future children are protected in any way. For example, the law does not regulate parental leave for a child born to a surrogate mother. Yes, and issues related rather to the ethical side, are not specified in any way.

Who's to say what to do if divorce parents, so to speak, still in the process of pregnancy of the surrogate mother? Or, for example, there is no answer to the question of what to do if a child was born with physical or mental disabilities and is not needed by either biological parents or a surrogate mother...

And who is to blame and what to do with the child being carried by a surrogate mother, if the future father who gave the sperm died, and the future mother refuses the “ordered” baby on the grounds that genetically she has nothing to do with him?

Lawyers advise such "white pages" to be discussed carefully and in advance in a contract concluded between biological parents and "women-incubators", where guarantees for the fulfillment of obligations of all parties in the event of unforeseen and disputable situations would be discussed and a penalty policy would be taken into account in case of dishonest fulfillment of obligations assumed by the parties.

But, as they say, "I would know where I would fall ...".

Letter of the law

Russia is one of the few happy countries where surrogate motherhood is legally allowed. The legal aspects of surrogate motherhood are regulated by the Family Code of the Russian Federation, Fundamentals of the legislation of the Russian Federation on the protection of the health of citizens. The implementation of the medical component of surrogate motherhood is regulated by Order 67 of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.

Among the gaps, a kind of white spots in Russian legislation, are the following questions that have not yet found their unambiguous solution:

• the possibility of using surrogate motherhood programs by couples who are not legally married;
• the use of surrogate mothers in the treatment of infertility in single women;
• reproductive and surrogate motherhood for single men.

An unequivocal minus of the current Russian legislation is that the surrogate mother is not required to give her consent to the registration of biological parents as the parents of her child and, in principle, can keep the child to himself.

Mom for Hire: The Truth About Surrogacy

How much does a child cost?

I remember an episode from "Carlson", when the Kid asked his mother: "Would you give me for a million? And for a hundred thousand million?" Silly, he did not know that mothers can give any money for one smile of their long-awaited children. And the cost of such pleasure can reach simply fabulous sums.

The first attempt at "in vitro" fertilization (in vitro conception) in various Russian clinics costs from 30 to 110 thousand rubles(depending on the complexity of the service provided). Subsequent ones (and there may be two, or three, or more) can be offered at a 5-10% discount.

We add here all the surveys, ultrasound, tests, procedures, drugs used, the cost of the birth itself, and most importantly, the surrogate mother's fee - and we get a huge amount.

One of the sites offering the selection of a candidate that meets the requirements of the Ministry of Health and suits the clinic of your choice, already including compensation for the surrogate mother, all costs and coordination of this program up to the signing of the surrogacy agreement, will do this "only" for 12.5 thousand euros. Only the selection of a candidate for a surrogate mother - without paying compensation to her - will cost 5 thousand euros there.

Our experiment

"ZhS" - Hello, Anna, I read your ad, tell us about yourself and your conditions first?

Anna - I am 27 years old, I am raising two children. She is completely healthy, has all the certificates, the only thing is that there are no vaccinations against measles and rubella. My terms: 20 thousand dollars after the birth of the child, 300 dollars a month during pregnancy.

"ZhS" - The fact is that I need you to re-pass all the examinations. Will you agree to move to my city for all this time?

Anna - Well, I have all the papers ... But if you really want to, then why not? Of course, the first months of pregnancy, I would prefer to stay at home, and then - please.

ZhS - And what about the children? You have two...

Anna - My mother is retired, so she will be able to look after them.

"ZhS" - Tell me, I can be sure that we will not have problems during the transfer of my child, are you psychologically ready for this?

Anna - Do not worry, I am mentally balanced, I will give you the child immediately and without problems. I understand that it's not mine.

ZhS - Forgive me for being direct, but it is important for me to know this: are you doing this only for the sake of money?

Anna - Of course, I will not hide the fact that I need money. My husband and I are divorced, we live with my mother, I would like to improve my living conditions. But I feel that by my act I will make happy those people who are desperate to become parents. In general, I really love children. If it's easy for me, why not help. Trust me, it's not just about the money...

Would you believe?

Where and how are they looking for a "temporary mother"

Mom for Hire: The Truth About Surrogacy

Usually, each professional center for reproductive medicine has its own databases of surrogate mothers, suitable for all indicators and requirements: approximate age from 20 to 40 years, the presence of their own healthy child, the somatic and mental health of a woman.

When choosing a candidate suitable for the role of a surrogate mother for a child, on their own, knowledgeable people advise carefully weighing all the pros and cons. The most acceptable option is close people: sisters, nieces, good friends and even mothers. As a rule, they often volunteer to help themselves, and sometimes refuse material compensation.

People found through a dubious ad on the Internet often turn out to be charlatans, swindlers, blackmailers, and even tippers. And just the mere fact that your child will most likely be treated only as a paid service will not add positive emotions to your family.

Cases in which intermediaries provide as surrogate mothers already pregnant girls who were dissuaded from having an abortion (including in collusion with doctors); replanting foreign or donor embryos; falsification of medical certificates of surrogate mothers so that girls who are not suitable for health reasons are accepted into the program; "safety net" of the candidate with her own man ...

And as a result - absolutely not your child; blackmailing parents by disclosing information or threatening to tell the child who really bore him - unfortunately, not a single married couple who wants to have a child with the help of a surrogate mother is immune from all this.

Are our children ours?

According to official data, with the help of surrogate mothers, over 220 thousand children were born, of which more than 500 were born in Russia. At the same time, doctors admit that the real figures in our country are 4-5 times higher. Russian donor eggs are more popular.

Do not flatter yourself that Western Europeans are crazy about the beauty of Slavs - it’s just that this procedure is legalized in our state, and the cost of the material here in Russia is several times cheaper, than in other countries. For example, if one "portion" of eggs (10-12 pieces) is bought from a donor woman for $300, then donor oocytes "go out" to the patient at a price of about $1,500, while abroad the price already ranges from $4,000 to $5,000. "green".

Some clinics organize a kind of all-inclusive tourism: from flights and taxis to hotels. Most importantly, such clinics are cheaper than their Western counterparts, the services they provide - from surrogacy to eggs - are completely legal.

While in the same Germany all this is prohibited. However, as far as legal and medical risks are concerned, neither childless couples nor surrogate mothers themselves and women who sell their eggs can calculate them.

Order or buy?

P. 5 Art. 16 of the Law "On acts of civil status" dated November 15, 1997 N 143-FZ establishes that during the state registration of the birth of a child, at the request of the spouses who agreed to implant the embryo to another woman for the purpose of carrying it, simultaneously with a document confirming the fact of the birth of the child, must be submitted a document issued by a medical organization and confirming the fact that the consent of the woman who gave birth to the child (surrogate mother) was obtained for the recording of the indicated spouses by the child's parents.

It turns out that there is no document proving that this is not the sale of a child by one woman to other people, but surrogate motherhood. Neither the Family Code nor other legislative acts require that the registration of a "surrogate baby" be carried out through the court (as an adoption) and at the same time documents evidencing medical procedures (planting a fertilized cell of specific individuals for bearing by a "container" woman) are considered.

Drawing a conclusion from our legislation, it is easier to buy a child than to order it, and to register it in the registry office as a "surrogate". After all, the difference in price in this case can be tens of thousands of dollars ...

It turns out that how many specific children in our state are born from surrogate mothers, no one will say? And how many donor eggs of Russian women will someday turn into foreign citizens? After all, following the logic, not all those children who appear in Russia are necessarily born from their own, and not surrogate mothers. And where is the guarantee that all those children who are registered as their own are not "bought" from cuckoo mothers?

The absolute record holder among surrogate mothers remains 39-year-old Englishwoman Carol Horlock, who gave birth to nine babies for childless couples.

A bit of history

The first program known to us of the so-called traditional surrogacy was implemented almost 4000 years ago. This story is described in the Old Testament (Genesis 16): Sarah, Abraham's wife, was barren and hired her maid Hagar to bear Abraham's child.

"And Sarah said to Abraham: Behold, the Lord has shut up my womb so that I may not give birth; come in to my maidservant: perhaps I will have children by her. Abraham obeyed the words of Sarah."

The advanced age of Abraham (86 years) did not interfere with conception, and in 1910 BC, a boy was born to Abraham and Hagar, who was given the name Ismail. Sarah took him into her lap as her own son.

The spread of surrogate motherhood in Egypt also had its own characteristics. In order to prevent "solar" blood from mixing with the blood of ordinary people, the Egyptian pharaohs took their own sisters as wives. As a result, children born in such an incestuous marriage did not differ in special health.

Therefore, many Egyptian pharaohs used the services of concubines for procreation. So, for example, Amenhotep I, pharaoh of the New Kingdom, who ruled in the 16th century BC. e., there was no heir, and he had to resort to the help of a surrogate mother-concubine, so that the successor of his family, the future great pharaoh Thutmose I, was born.

Valentina FILATOVA

Modern reproductive science has given childless couples the chance to raise a genetically related child. However, an insufficiently clearly defined contract can cause conflicts between the surrogate mother and the biological parents. They are rightfully worried about whether a surrogate mother can refuse her obligations.

Legal basis of surrogate motherhood

In Russia, surrogacy is a completely official and legally provided service, which is regulated by several laws and legislative acts.

Legislative framework for surrogate motherhood:

• Family code
• Order No. 107n dated August 30, 2012 of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation "On the procedure for the use of assisted reproductive technologies, contraindications and restrictions on their use"
• Federal Law "On the basics of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation"
• Federal Law "On acts of civil status"

In order to avoid problems and conflict situations, biological parents usually conclude a legal contract with the surrogate mother. True, even he does not give an absolute guarantee and a negative answer to the question of concerned biological parents about a surrogate mother: can she take the child for herself?

The consent of the surrogate mother to record the child with the biological parents in the book of birth records must be recorded in writing. It is worth knowing that after a perfect record, you cannot refer to these circumstances if a situation arises with challenging motherhood. When registering a child in the registry office, documents confirming the consent of the surrogate mother to transfer the child to the parents are presented.

Can a surrogate mother change her mind after that? No, according to Art. 52 part 3 of the Family Code, after the registration of the child, only officially registered persons can be considered his parents. Even if the surrogate mother tries to defend her parental rights in court after that, according to legal experts, the likelihood of her victory is doubtful.

Possible reasons for the surrogate mother's refusal to fulfill the contract

There are usually only two main reasons why a surrogate mother may change her mind about giving a child to genetic parents.

Both reasons depend on the human factor:

• Psychological instability (the emotional state of a woman who was carrying a child)
• Fraud on the part of a surrogate mother who is trying to blackmail a married couple to increase the fee, change conditions, etc.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to predict everything. There is always a risk that a surrogate mother (even one with a stable psyche) will refuse to transfer the child to biological parents after childbirth (according to the current legislation of the Russian Federation, the baby is transferred to the father and mother only after the mother has officially refused him).

There are cases (and they are not isolated) when it seems to a pregnant surrogate mother that she will easily part with the baby, but during the nine months of gestation and subsequent birth, the emotional perception of the situation by the woman in labor changes dramatically.

Can a surrogate mother not give up a baby: a legal point of view

Although the legislation of the CIS countries and Russia is considered quite liberal for the world legal practice, the legislation of the Russian Federation still cannot boast of a systematic approach that solves the potential problems of substitute motherhood and closes loopholes for fraudulent actions against parents. All articles, acts and orders only partially regulate the existing phenomenon.

In order to neutralize the legal force of the reasons (which are described above) for which a surrogate mother can refuse to comply with the contract with impunity, it is necessary to accept at the highest level a pre-registered surrogacy program. Lawyers believe that such a law or regulation could cover all aspects of the phenomenon in full - from signing an agreement on voluntary cooperation to obtaining a birth certificate. However, no such document has yet been developed.

Gaps in the law can make biological parents a target for blackmail.

Considering the fact that only a surrogate mother can give consent to the parents of a child registering genetic donors, this is a loophole for possible abuse on her part. For example, a woman in labor may demand an amount higher than that prescribed in the contract. At the same time, in court proceedings, the court usually takes the side of the mother who carried and gave birth to the child. That is, the court can leave an already registered child with a mother who received legal payment from her parents, but then changed her mind. In this case, people risk being left without a child and a substantial amount due to the lack of a separate law protecting parents from the dishonest actions of a “changed mind” surrogate mother.

This situation arises due to the fact that the legislation does not consider the baby as the subject of a transaction (that is, the subject of the contract), therefore it is quite difficult for an outside couple to prove the right to a child.

Now the legal contract remains the main governing document, which is between a childless couple and a potential surrogate mother. It is this agreement that becomes the foundation for resolving disputes and conflicts after childbirth.

What to do if the surrogate mother doubts whether she will be able to give the child away?

In such cases, it is worth enlisting the support of competent lawyers and going to court, since cases regarding substitute motherhood are considered only there.

The probability that the child will be returned to the woman who carried it is reduced to the maximum if the contract is initially drawn up correctly, and the consent of the surrogate mother (in writing, of course) has already been obtained for the parents to register donors of biological material.

However, due to the fact that a child cannot legally be the subject of an agreement (like any living person in the modern world in the absence of a slave system), the transfer of rights to it also cannot be guaranteed one hundred percent - neither by lawyers nor by the courts. Therefore, a small fraction of the likelihood that the court will take the side of the surrogate mother is still preserved in the current legislative realities.

How to prevent the situation with the refusal of the surrogate mother to give up the child?

As described above, the legal rights of a surrogate mother to a child are primary. Therefore, in order to avoid unpleasant situations, potential parents should take care of proper legal support of the entire process– from conception to registration of an already born baby (legal support is not limited to drawing up an agreement between a surrogate mother and biological parents), and, of course, choosing the right surrogate mother.

It is unlikely that parents will be able to carefully choose the potential mother of their future baby using the method of independent search - the risk of becoming victims of scammers and swindlers or not recognizing a psychologically unstable person is too great. Only a qualified company that has been operating in the field of substitute motherhood for many years can ensure proper compliance with both conditions.

The contract is the most important part of the process, which helps to prevent the risks of a surrogate mother's unforeseen refusal to transfer the child to the parents. There are so many nuances in such a delicate matter that the standard form of the contract in practice can turn into problems in the future if the case goes to court. Therefore, it makes sense to seek help not just from general lawyers, but from experts with experience in the field of surrogacy.

Since the stipulation in the contract of a clause on the obligation of a woman in labor to transfer the rights to a child to biological parents will not be valid in court (read above about the reasons for this), lawyers recommend going the other way. The mother's temptation to leave the child can be significantly reduced by prescribing sanctions for non-compliance with the terms of the contract No court can challenge them.

For example, you can specify that if a surrogate mother refuses to transfer the child to donors, she loses the right to a fee for her services. An even tougher method is to add to this a clause that the surrogate mother will be obliged, in addition to deprivation of the fee, to compensate her parents in multiples of the costs of supporting her during pregnancy and childbirth. To determine the exact amount of compensation, you must first enter into the contract the exact amounts that the parents plan to spend on medical care for the surrogate mother during pregnancy and childbirth and other expenses that both parties of the process consider necessary.