Spanish couples undergoing surrogacy processes left in legal limbo in Ukraine
By Silvia Blanco,
El País
| 08. 31. 2018
A total of 30 families are unable to secure passports for their children, after the Foreign Affairs Ministry says it has detected reports of malpractice and possible trafficking
The Spanish Consulate in Kiev is examining the cases of 30 Spanish families currently in Ukraine and who are unable to obtain a Spanish passport for their babies after entering into what is an illegal practice back home: paying a surrogate to carry their child.
According to a statement issued by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, “dealing with this kind of case is a very delicate matter for the Consular Department of the Spanish Embassy in Kiev as it has received reports in recent months of possible cases of malpractice linked to assisted conception, such as the possible trafficking of minors.”
The statement also warns against “entering into any surrogate pregnancy process within this context.”
The Consulate was echoing a post on the Spanish Embassy’s website, which alerted Spanish nationals to the scams and shoddy practices of certain assisted-reproduction clinics in Ukraine, involving irregularities in the pregnancy process, induced abortions six weeks into the pregnancy so couples are forced to embark on another costly IVF treatment, and a general lack of medical attention during pregnancy.
Until July, babies born to...
Related Articles
By Anna Louie Sussman, The New York Times | 03.25.2025
On June 24, 2022, the same day the Supreme Court issued its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, I received a call from the fertility clinic where I’d been undergoing in vitro fertilization, informing me that seven of...
By Natalie Richardson, PET | 03.24.2025
By Nick Cumming-Bruce, New York Times | 03.13.2025
A United Nations commission on Thursday accused Israel of targeting hospitals and other health facilities in Gaza that provide reproductive services, including an I.V.F. clinic where thousands of embryos were destroyed, in what it called an effort to prevent Palestinian...
By Jamie Ducharme, TIME | 03.06.2025
After struggling for eight years to have a baby, Shannon Petersen and her husband decided to try in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 2022. Their fertility doctor recommended a test that sounded like exactly what they needed. It promised to help...