MOSCOW, November 27./TASS/. Early in December, the State Duma will adopt the decision to ban the services of surrogate mothers in Russia for foreign nationals, lower house’s Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.
"Surrogacy for foreign nationals should be banned. <...> It is necessary to do everything to protect children by not allowing foreigners to use the services of surrogacy. We will make this decision in early December," he blogged.
Child trafficking is unacceptable, he stressed. According to Volodin, over the past few years "45,000 babies born from surrogate mothers" have been taken abroad.
"This is a large illegal business, with a turnover estimated at more than 2 billion euros. Such babies often end up in hardest situations: they become victims of crimes, including sale for transplants, they end up in same-sex couples," he noted.
Earlier, Duma Deputy Speaker Anna Kuznetsova reported that the bill to introduce a ban on surrogate mothers in Russia for foreign citizens and persons without citizenship was ready for a second reading.
Under the document, only married citizens of the Russian Federation or single female Russian nationals, who can not carry or give birth to a child for medical reasons, may use the surrogate mother services. Foreign nationals won’t be entitled to the surrogacy service in Russia. The document stipulates that only a citizen of the Russian Federation may act as a surrogate.