Choosing Ukraine as a country and legal field for a surrogacy program is considered one of the most affordable and safe options among other countries. The country's citizens have access to healthy food due to the Ukrainian land's fertility and the developed agricultural industry. Ukrainian women are strong in health, and many are willing to be surrogate mothers. Medical solutions for carrying a child meet world standards. And the Ukrainian legal field is favorable of surrogacy agreements and relatively easy to execute.
WHY IS UKRAINE A GOOD CHOICE?
Flexible legislation
Healthy surrogate mothers
Top fertility clinics
Open people
Ukrainian legislation provides important right, almost no other country in the world does. The surrogate mother is not allowed to keep the child after birth under no circumstances. According to the law, the newborn legally belongs to the intended parents from the moment of conception. Intended parents are written in the birth certificate of the newborn as the biological parents.
LAW ON SURROGACY
Surrogacy is a reproductive process whereby a woman, called a surrogate or gestational carrier, carries someone else's baby. Depending on the assisted reproduction technique used, we can distinguish between traditional surrogacy and gestational surrogacy. The woman carrying the baby will be referred to as a surrogate mother or gestational carrier accordingly.
Traditional surrogacy
It involves inseminating artificially, using intrauterine insemination (IUI), the surrogate, which turns her into the genetic mother of the child. This means that the surrogate and the baby share their DNA. In other words, she is at the same time both the gestational mother and the child's biological mother. This type of surrogacy is forbidden in Ukraine because of the genetic link between the surrogate mother and the baby.
Gestational surrogacy
Gestational, full, or host surrogacy is a more complex procedure from the technical point of view. However, given that the gestational carrier is not genetically linked to the child, it is the type of surrogacy used nowadays.
In this case, the surrogate does not use her own eggs. Her role is limited to carrying the pregnancy. For this reason, she is called a gestational carrier, often abbreviated as GC.
The ovulation stimulation process and the subsequent collection of eggs are carried out in the intended mother, as long as she does not have any fertility problem or an egg donor (a third party). By no means will the gestational carrier be the same person as the egg donor.
The eggs are fertilized in the laboratory using the husband's or partner's sperm, or donor sperm if needed, using classical IVF or IVF with ICSI. Finally, the resulting embryos are transferred into the gestational carrier.
ONLY gestational surrogacy is legal in Ukraine.
Also, surrogacy arrangements can be classified into altruistic or commercial depending on whether the surrogate receives a financial reward or not for carrying someone else's pregnancy:
Altruistic or uncompensated surrogacy
No payment is given to the surrogate as a reward for carrying the pregnancy. However, it is possible to reimburse all the expenses incurred during pregnancy or as a consequence of being pregnant, including maternity clothes, special care, emotional support, a special diet, etc.
Commercial, gainful, or paid surrogacy
The gestational carrier is economically compensated for the inconveniences caused by the surrogacy process, including physically and emotionally. Additionally, she receives reimbursement of expenses.
Both altruistic and commercial surrogacies are legal in Ukraine. But which one will be put in the surrogacy contract depends on the intended parents' country's law. We will choose the one that is more preferred in your legal system to avoid any future legal problems that may occur.
Who is gestational surrogacy available for under the law of Ukraine?
Married heterosexual couples with a proven medical diagnosis on the fertility problems resulting in an inability to conceive or carry a child.
Who is gestational surrogacy prohibited for under the law of Ukraine?
Single men or women, same-sex partners.
But ‘Yourbaby’ agency provides a solution for same-sex couples and singles.
Gestational surrogacy in Ukraine is absolutely legal for all heterosexual couple and officially regulated by the Family Code of Ukraine.
IMPORTAINT REGULATIONS RELATED TO THE LAW ON SURROGACY IN UKRAINE
We have our understanding of what a great surrogate agency experience for a client and surrogate mother should be. It all comes to values we all share:
The Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 787, 9 September 2013
“On approval of the Procedure for the Use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies”
This act regulates the procedure for the use of assisted reproductive technologies and states:
In accordance with paragraph 1.4 of the Order No. 787, ART programs shall be exclusively implemented by accredited healthcare institutions.
Paragraph 1.5 of the Order No. 787 provides for the patients’ right to free choice of medical institutions for ART application.
In addition, paragraph 1.8 of the Order No. 787 stipulates that ART shall be applied due to medical necessity based on the patients’ written voluntary consent and the Patient/Patients Application for the ART Use (the relevant form is approved by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine).
In accordance with paragraph 1.7 of the Order No. 787, a full-aged woman and/or man shall have the right to undergo ART treatment programs due to medical necessity.
Paragraph 1.14 of the said Order stipulates that medical support with the use of ART methods shall be provided based confidentially in accordance with Article 40 of the Fundamentals of Ukrainian Legislation on Healthcare.
In Ukraine, a surrogate shall
Be a woman of full age and legal capacity
Provide that she has her own healthy child
Has given her written voluntary consent to be a surrogate mother
And there are no medical contraindications for her to become a surrogate mother
If the parents of the child born by a surrogate are foreign citizens, they shall indicate their temporary residence address before execution of documents and departure from the country to ensure nursing by pediatric specialists and observation (paragraph 6.8. of the Order No. 787).
At present, in accordance with paragraph 6.9. of the Order No. 787, a child born with the use of ART and surrogacy shall be registered in accordance with the procedure as established by the current laws of Ukraine provided that there is a certificate of genetic affinity of the parents (mother or farther) with the fetus.
Apart from purely legal aspects of surrogacy, parenthood recognition and registration, there are a lot of civil law issues arising between spouses and a surrogate. Such relations are regulated by contracts.
Extract from the Family Code of Ukraine:
Chapter 12 ESTABLISHMENT OF CHILD'S ORIGINS
Article 123. Maternal and Paternal Affiliation of the Child Born As a Result of Assisted Reproductive Technologies
1. If the wife delivers the child conceived using Assisted Reproductive Technology, upon written consent of her husband, the latter shall be registered as the father of the child born by his wife, (remark: is applicable to IVF programs).
2. If the embryo conceived by the spouses using Assisted Reproductive Technology is transferred into the body of another woman, the spouses shall be the parents of the child. (remark: Gestational Surrogacy).
3. The spouses shall be considered as the parents of the child, born by the wife, when an embryo conceived by her husband and another woman was transferred into the wife's body (remark: IVF Egg donation program).
Thus, Part 2 of Art. 123 of the Ukrainian Family Code clearly regulates the legal relationship of surrogate motherhood. In accordance with this norm, parental rights belong to a spouse who has given consent to the use of Assisted reproductive technologies.
Other legal acts which regulate surrogacy in Ukraine:
- The Law of Ukraine On State Registration of Acts of Civil Status No. 2398 / VI dated July 01, 2010;
- Rules of state registration of acts of civil status No. 52/5 dated October 18, 2000;
- The Law of Ukraine On the Citizenship of Ukraine No. 2235-III of January 18, 2001;
- The rules for the entry of foreigners and stateless persons into Ukraine, their departure from Ukraine and transit through its territory, approved by the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 150 of 15.02.2012.
I PERSONALLY ASSURE A QUICK,
PAIN – FREE LEGAL PROCESS AT ALL STAGES
OF YOUR PROGRAM.
