Interpol went after Ukrainian reproductive specialists

Ukraine was a paradise for childless couples from all over the world not so long ago. According to statistics, there used to be more than 50 reproductive clinics in the country. They thoroughly provided “IVF babies” services to childless fellow citizens and foreigners.

Ukrainian legislation is considered to be the most loyal regarding surrogate mothers in Europe. As a result, hundreds of infertile couples had the opportunity to have children every year. 

After February 24, 2022, the situation has absolutely changed. Most IVF clinics left Ukraine and moved to different countries having faced the “surrogate” restrictions due to local laws (the range of clients and the conditions for receiving delicate services are highly restricted by laws of many countries). 

In addition to these problems, some Ukrainian “surrogate market operators” have gotten into great troubles with law enforcement authorities. They are accused of human trafficking and threatened with long-term imprisonment. 

The large Kiev reproductive clinic “BioTex” is leading in international scandals. They have been hooked up by law enforcement officers several times due to various reasons in the last few years. 

Another couple’s child was sold to Italians. 

The whole world was shocked by alarming news in the early 2014: Italian spouses are prosecuted for the illegal adoption of a baby born by a surrogate mother in Ukraine. Ukrainian journalists flew to Italy aimed at highlighting the prosecution:  

As it turned out, the Italian couple signed a surrogacy contract with BioTex. When the boy was born, the happy family took the baby home. As it’s required to make a DNA test in Italy to establish biological relationship, it turned out there that the man and woman were not the child’s genetic parents. In fact, they were sold a complete stranger’s baby. 

Then the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office accused the head of the medical center of human trafficking, but somehow the case was hushed up. 

A Chinese man was temporarily married to a Ukrainian woman for the sake of a child 

BioTex was again involved in a criminal act 4 years later. In 2018, a murky story about a Chinese citizen who came to Ukraine to have an “UVF baby” come to the top news. 

But what a tough luck: it became illegal for single men and same-sex couples to participate in the surrogacy program as prohibited by Ukrainian legislation. 

It didn’t appear to be an obstacle for white-coat scammers: they helped the Chinese man register a pro forma marriage with a surrogate mother. When the temporary wife gave birth, the surrogate mother and the customer were registered as parents. Then the “spouses” got divorced, and the father received “mother’s” permission to take the child abroad. 

The unlucky doctors violated all conceivable legislative prohibitions: they accepted a single man to participate in the program, allowed him to choose an egg donor, carried our an IVF with a Ukrainian surrogate mother, recognized her as a mother, committed a marriage fraud and, bypassing the law, allowed him to travel abroad with the newborn. 

Then the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine accused the head of the medical center of human trafficking, and the Prosecutor General personally reported to the public about this blatant law violation case. 

Kharkiv doctors will be prosecuted

Kharkiv reproductive doctors have done the same as their Kyiv fellows. 

The founders of the notorious “Professor Alexander Feskov Family Planning and Human Reproduction Center” were accused of human trafficking. The case was submitted to court in April, 2023.  

The litigation has continued since 2019. As established by investigation found out, anyone could buy surrogacy services in the clinic, even single fathers and same-sex couples despite statutory bans. An old opaque scheme helped to solve the problem with the law: service providers helped a client and a surrogate mother with entering into a pro forma marriage. 

By the way, an unprecedented incident took place in Feskov clinic a few years before that, namely, a surrogate mother refused to hand in a baby to foreign parents. 

Should there be any punishment? 

The heads of both Ukrainian reproductive clinics are under investigation. Interpol and European intelligence agencies got involved in the case. 

Nowadays law enforcement officers in different countries are checking families who used the services of Ukrainian reproductive specialists. Foreigners are asked to submit their biomaterial to establish a genetic link between the parents-customers and children born by Ukrainian surrogate mothers.

Source: www.nachrichten-fabrik.de