MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. The Federation Council approved a bill on Wednesday that would ban foreigners and single men from using the services of surrogate mothers.
The bill was backed by 141 lawmakers, with none voting against it and one abstention.
The document was submitted to the State Duma by a team of legislators and senators in December 2021. Under the bill, only married citizens of the Russian Federation or single female Russian nationals, who cannot carry or give birth to a child for medical reasons, may use the services of surrogate mothers.
The bill establishes the right of former spouses to be formalized as the parents of the child born by a surrogate mother only if the court does not find that their dissolved marriage was a sham. If one of the spouses has died during the pregnancy of a surrogate mother, or one or both of the spouses or the single woman have stopped being Russian nationals, they can be registered as the parents with the consent of the surrogate mother.
A child born to a surrogate mother in Russia would be given Russian citizenship.
The bill prohibits the simplified procedure of the renunciation of citizenship for children born to surrogate mothers if one of the parents is a Russian national and the other a foreigner, or both parents are foreigners.
The law will take effect on the day of its official publication. The clause that grants Russian citizenship to a child born to a surrogate mother applies to cases when a surrogate mother is pregnant or has given birth to a child by agreement with the potential parents as of the day the law enters into force.
The requirement of a registered marriage and Russian citizenship of one of the potential parents, single women or surrogate mothers doesn’t apply if the surrogate mother is already carrying the child as of the day the law enters into force.