“It’s heartrending to see pictures of babies stuck in a nursery in Ukraine,” said Ruth Institute President Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D. “These children
were born to surrogate mothers. But due to a ban on foreign travel, caused by the coronavirus, foreign families aren’t able to claim the babies for
which they contracted.”
Surrogacy is a thriving business in Ukraine. It’s estimated that each year between 2,000 and 2,500 surrogates produce babies for foreign families.
For this, they receive between $15,000 and $17,000. The companies that act as go-betweens get twice that amount.
“What should be the result of love between two people becomes a commercial transaction, where money is paid and a product delivered,” said Morse. “The
child will likely never know the identity of his birth mother. He’ll never know his heritage.”
“The surrogate mother is paid to rent her womb for nine months. In poor countries like Ukraine, $15,000 to $17,000 is hard to resist. The companies
that facilitate the transaction are exploiting these women,” Morse said.
She continued: “The most important immediate problem is finding a way to get these children out. If they remain institutionalized in Ukraine, who can
say what will become of them.”
“After that, the public – in both the United States and Europe, where the market exists — must begin to face the hard questions about surrogacy, which
is now a $30-billion global business. Surrogacy should be banned, though the Ukrainian company is in full compliance with its government’s regulations.
The buying and selling of babies is so egregious, however, you can’t put enough regulatory band-aids on it. This business does not belong in a
humane society,” Morse said.
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See the Ruth Institute’s May 6 release on Anderson Cooper and surrogacy.
The Ruth Institute is a global non-profit organization leading an international interfaith
coalition to defend the family and build a civilization of love.
Jennifer Roback Morse is the author of The Sexual State: How Elite Ideologies Are Destroying Lives.
See The Ruth Institute pamphlet, “Children and Donor Conception and Assisted Reproduction.”
To schedule an interview with Dr. Morse, contact media@ruthinstitute.org.