The lower house of the Russian parliament on Thursday approved a bill banning foreigners from using Russian surrogate mothers.
The bill adopted by the State Duma requires that only married Russian citizens or single Russian women who cannot give birth to a child for medical reasons will be allowed to use the services of surrogate mothers.
Commercial surrogacy is legal in Russia, but religious groups have criticized the practice as too commercial and linked to crime.
Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the parliament, said Thursday’s decision was made to protect Russian children. According to Volodin, writing on Telegram last week, around 45,000 babies born to surrogate mothers have been taken abroad in “the last few years”.
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Proponents of the bill have often associated surrogacy with child trafficking and the organ trade. They have also criticized the use of surrogacy by same-sex couples.
“The purpose of the law is to ban surrogacy of foreign citizens. Who is coming? We don’t know. Where will the children be taken? We don’t know either. These are our children,” Volodin told the Duma.
Newborn babies are seen inside their cribs in Kiev, Ukraine, on March 17, 2022. Surrogate born babies cannot be reunited with their birth families due to ongoing Russian attacks on Ukraine.
“They can be taken out to be used for organ (transplantation), in same-sex families. It is forbidden by law to take out our children. Children will automatically receive Russian citizenship and will be protected,” he said. additional.
Under the bill passed Thursday, couples where one spouse is a Russian citizen will still be able to use Russian surrogate mothers. It stipulated that a child born to a surrogate mother in Russia would automatically receive Russian citizenship.
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To become federal law, the bill must be approved by the Federation Council, the upper house of Parliament, and signed by President Vladimir Putin.
