The Russian Duma intends to consider a draft law banning surrogacy in the country. Right now both free and commercial surrogacy in Russia are legal.

Surrogate motherhood in Russia

There were 3,500 kids born via a surrogate mother in the Russian Federation in 2015.

• 9% of babies were born for foreign citizens via commercial contracts, ru reported.
• Foreigners pay around 3,5 million rubles (around 62,000 US Dollars) for the full service. Russian parents may be able to get the task completed for less, but it’s still hard to find a reliable birth mother, as we reported previously.
• Thus, the cost of hiring a surrogate to carry a child in Russia is higher than in other places such as India or nearby Ukraine.

Many Russian celebrities have kids born to surrogate mothers. Surrogate motherhood in Russia is just as popular among rich and famous as adopting kids from third world countries among the Hollywood elite.

Kim Kardashian recently announced the arrival of her third child via surrogate, after having problems with two former pregnancies.

Duma to consider legislation to outlaw surrogacy in Russia

Now the Russian Parliament, Duma, intends to consider a legislation that will see surrogacy completely banned.

The author Anton Belyakov is a senator from Vladimir region. He is a member of the political party “A Just Russia” (“Spravedlivaya Rossiya”). Belyakov is known for previously wanting to raise the age limit for buying tobacco products to 21 years and lobbying for chemical castration of pedophiles.

Now the senator presented a law that will prohibit surrogate motherhood in the Russian Federation, which Duma plans to consider in the coming weeks.

Belyakov compares surrogacy with prostitution and considers it immoral. He believes that Russia is turning into a center of reproduction tourism for foreigners, which he wants to stop.

The Russian Orthodox Church approves this notion, viewing carrying a child for another couple by a mother, whether it’s paid or done free of charge, as a sin.

Svetlana Tsikulina from MK believes that banning surrogacy will only exacerbate problems of childless parents, while the country is experiencing a drop in birth rates for decades. The worst decline occurred at the end of 1990’s, which is going to hit the country with consequences pretty soon. In 2015, fertility rate in the country was 1.75 births per woman. For comparison, in the USA it was 1.84.

Read also:

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• Calls to prohibit abortions in Russia
  
• Russia to pay women who have 2 kids before the age of 30
  
• Children of Older Mothers Are Healthier, Taller, Better Educated