FROM THE INCUBATOR INTO A WOMB?

- "Not all the women of the childbearing age are capable of becoming mothers”— Up till recently if fertilization was impossible due to medical causes or if pregnancy could endanger the woman's health- childless couples could only dream of continuing their family line. Nowadays we settle their problems with the help of accessory technologies, including surrogate maternity (when a woman bears a child for the genetic parents).

The first child that was born by a surrogate mother in Great Britain appeared in 1989. A little bit later a first Ukrainian girl was born in the same manner.

"There was nothing sensational in it, — Because from the point of view of pure practice the surrogate maternity is not more complicated than fertilization "in vitro", when an embryo is transferred into a womb. The question is: in whose womb? In our case a mother has born a child for her daughter, because her daughter had no womb at all.

Two kinds of the surrogate maternity have been described in medical literature: full and partial.

—in the first situation a woman bearing a child is not genetically connected with a child —" i.e. gametes of the would-be parents take part in fertilization, and in some cases — those of donors. This is the so called gestational surrogate maternity. In the second situation a gamete of the bearing mother is used. In the latter case they speak about gender surrogate maternity".

—"Besides "in vitro" method an ICSI (Intra Сytoplasmic Sperm Injection) method is applied, when the most viable spermatozoon is selected and with the help of special tools is injected into an ovigerm. Then an embryo is held in a special incubator for three days and after that it is transferred into a surrogate mother's womb. An embryo develops under such conditions of fertilization as naturally as it does under the traditional ones. "

Church's Opinion

Father Superior Longin (Chanukah), Editor-in-Chief of the «Orthodox Christian Church Newspaper»:

— Fertilization and Birth —are a sacrament, which depends not only on a man but also on God. If due to some reasons God does not bless parents to have children, that means they are not ready to become parents. There are many cases when people in connection with this re-considered their lives, came to the church for confession, and only after getting spiritual healing gave birth to children even against doctors' predictions, so from the purely religious point of view, Church does not greet surrogate maternity. Besides in the course of fertilization several eggs are used, and if parents want to have only one baby, then some embryos are destroyed. And this is a kind of abortion, from the point of Church's view, - assassination, because a human being becomes a Man at the moment of conception. Nevertheless Church acknowledges the right for life of any child, irrespective of the way he/she comes into the world.

—For example, seven eggs are taken. Four eggs get fertilized, three — start growing, so these are taken and transferred into the womb. Due to this sometimes several children are born. Such probability is sufficiently specified in the Agreement which is mandatory between a surrogate mother and the genetic parents.

Signing an Agreement is a normal practice in Ukraine: although the Law does not prohibit childless parents to settle their problem, it does not regulate in details their relationship with the surrogate mother.

"We don't have any legal Acts, limiting surrogate maternity", — says Alexander Kurdyumov, an expert in the area of the Family Law. — But there are also no documents, formulating rights and responsibilities of both biological parents and those of surrogate mothers. The Family Code of Ukraine specifies: in case of implantation of an embryo, conceived by spouses, into a woman's body, they are regarded parents of the child. A medical aspect of the problem is referred to in Order № 579 of the Public Health Ministry of Ukraine, but it is nothing rather than recommendations for doctors"

A contract between a married couple, that has to take advantage of the surrogate mother's services, and a woman who agrees for such a role, gives all details and nuances of their cooperation.

—"An extremely important moment",— underlines the lawyer,— "is a probability of the surrogate mother's refusal to hand over the child to the parents or refusal of the parents themselves to take the child in case the latter was born with some medical deviations. As to the financial aspect, mainly from the very selection and preparation of a surrogate mother and full investigation of her medical history all expenses are born by the biological parents. The program of the surrogate maternity is completed by paying a compensation to the woman and handing over the child to the biological parents.

In spite of the fact that our legislation is far from being perfect (or, probably thanks to this fact), Ukraine is considered a Mecca for foreigners, wishing to take advantage of services of women who do not object to bearing an alien to them child.

—In the European Union the surrogate maternity is prohibited everywhere, except Great Britain, Finland, Holland, — says Mrs Chuprinova. — In the West they are afraid of its commercialization and complications, arising during mediation between parties, that made a decision to give birth to a baby. There are more childless mothers than women willing to bear children for strange people for free, on altruistic base. That is why the so called reproductive tourism is available. This notion came to life after signing in 1989 a UN International Convention about the human rights for life and continuation of the family line.