What is happening now in Kiev can be called, in the full sense of this word, a real catastrophe for the surrogacy market that has recently flourished in Ukraine. The police accuse the clinic “BioTexCom” in human trafficking (part 1, part 3 of article 149. Торгівля людьми або інша незаконна угода щодо людини Кримінального кодексу України) and forgery of documents. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine Lutsenko demands the arrest of the culprits – the managers and owners of the notorious clinic. Persons involved in this high-profile criminal case face imprisonment from 8 up to 15 years with confiscation of property.
The first suspicions that the doctors were engaged in illegal activities appeared already in 2011. A surrogate from Vinnytsia (Central Ukraine) gave birth to twins for an Italian couple. One child died during the childbirth. The second child was registered to the intended parents names in Ukraine, but Italy refused to recognize the Ukrainian birth certificate. The situation was complicated by the fact that examination of DNA revealed that the baby does not have a genetic relationship with the “parents” – and this is an obligatory requirement for the implementation of the surrogate motherhood program in Ukraine. It turns out that the couple just bought someone else’s child for 32.000 EUR – that’s how much their program cost in the clinic. Italian law enforcers found out that there was given a false information about the baby’s origin. The baby was taken from the family to an orphanage and the couple was arrested.
Another scandalous incident occurred in “BioTexCom” several years ago. One of the surrogate mothers told the police that the doctors at the clinic had infected her with hepatitis B during the procedure of transferring the biological parents’ embryos. The girl also complained about the terrible sanitary conditions for surrogates.
“It’s not a single case, it’s about the fact that “BioTexCom” has conducted at least 1000 surrogacy operations, and unfortunately we see that in many cases there was no compliance with the law on the need for biomaterial at least from one of the parents. We urge all victims of the activities of this firm to apply to law enforcement agencies, “said Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko at a special briefing with the head of the National Police of Ukraine Sergij Knyazev (Сергій Князєв). The Prosecutor General also stated that “BioTexCom” is suspected of evading taxes in an especially large amount (part 3 of Article 212).
Now the law enforcers have identified the id of all persons involved in the “black” business. Employees of the company and all surrogate mothers who collaborated with “BioTexCom” are now being interrogated. Surrogate mothers are also suspected of evading taxes on personal income.
The medical files of all patients stored in the clinic were withdrawn. The law enforcement agencies of 16 countries have sent requests for the compulsory conduct of a DNA test for the genetic relationship of parents-program customers and their “surrogate” children.
The police also check the activities of all companies working in the field of a surrogate motherhood in Ukraine.
At the end of the briefing, Lutsenko and Knyazev invoked to tighten the legislation governing the surrogate motherhood in Ukraine.