{"id":293467,"date":"2023-06-24T11:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-06-24T16:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=293467"},"modified":"2023-06-23T15:26:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-23T20:26:38","slug":"georgia-looks-ban-foreign-surrogacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/georgia-looks-ban-foreign-surrogacy\/","title":{"rendered":"Country of Georgia looks to ban foreign surrogacy due to &#8216;countless problems&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili announced on June 12 that his country is considering a draft law that would put an end to the country&#8217;s booming foreign surrogacy business.<\/p>\n<p>The Health, Labor, and Social Affairs Ministry&#8217;s current law would put an end to the country&#8217;s women carrying and delivering the biological children of foreigners after 2023. Gharibashvili <a href=\"https:\/\/eurasianet.org\/georgia-to-ban-surrogacy-for-foreigners\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cited<\/a> several reasons for the law change, including safety concerns, human trafficking risks, and the fear that children are going to the homes of same-sex couples.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There are reports that same-sex couples are picking up the babies born here and there can be countless problems,&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.interpressnews.ge\/ka\/article\/759531-surogacia-mxolod-sakartvelos-mokalakeebistvis-ikneba-dashvebuli\">said<\/a> Garibashvili.<\/p>\n<p>Health Minister Zurab Azarashvili has also cited the risks of \u201cunethical and bad practices,\u201d including &#8220;child selling&#8221; and &#8220;organ trafficking,&#8221; that have arisen from poor legislation. &#8220;Since the issue was left unregulated, we were unable to track where these children were going,&#8221; Azarashvili said.<\/p>\n<p>Going forward, the law would allow surrogacy for citizens under the &#8220;principle of altruism only,&#8221; though according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/georgia-surrogacy-babies-foreigners-legislation\/32464403.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RFE\/RL<\/a>, that definition has yet to be further clarified.<\/p>\n<p>Since the war in Ukraine, Georgia has become a hub for international surrogacy. A March report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insider.com\/war-in-ukraine-has-made-nearby-georgia-a-surrogacy-hub-2023-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Insider<\/a> revealed that inquiries in the country have increased 100% since the start of the war.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/target-petition\/?utm_source=lan&amp;utm_medium=display&amp;utm_campaign=lan_website&amp;utm_content=target_petition\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-292702\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/LA23MAY_TargetPetition_resized-700x180.jpg\" alt=\"Target petition\" width=\"700\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/LA23MAY_TargetPetition_resized-700x180.jpg 700w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/LA23MAY_TargetPetition_resized-300x77.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/LA23MAY_TargetPetition_resized-768x198.jpg 768w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/LA23MAY_TargetPetition_resized-500x129.jpg 500w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/LA23MAY_TargetPetition_resized.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The whole world came upon us,&#8221; Ketevan Robakidze, the founder of Georgia&#8217;s\u00a0International Surrogacy and Egg Donation Agency, told Insider. &#8220;Following the war in Ukraine, people from all over the world are seeking surrogacy here in Georgia.&#8221; Georgia is also considered one of the cheapest countries in the world for foreigners looking for a surrogate; fees at one facility cost $22,000, compared to $35,000 to $55,000 for Ukrainian surrogates.<\/p>\n<p>Women in the country often make between $17,000 and $23,000 for acting as a surrogate, and most admit to doing so because they hope to alleviate their financial difficulties. &#8220;We take this step because things are difficult for us,&#8221; admitted one woman named Maya.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Around me, women agree to surrogacy only because they need money,&#8221; said another woman. &#8220;Otherwise, who&#8217;s happy to be pregnant for nine months when you already have three or four children of your own?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>However, one woman told Insider that she would never be a surrogate again after doing it once. Her experience highlights the exploitative problems of a business that preys on vulnerable women who need money. &#8220;It&#8217;s extremely difficult. I can&#8217;t do it again,&#8221; said Natia Motsikulashvili. &#8220;I carried a baby for nine months, and then they took him from me. It&#8217;s excruciatingly painful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/give.liveaction.org\/general-donation\/?utm_source=lan&amp;utm_medium=display&amp;utm_campaign=monthly&amp;utm_content=article\"><i><strong>Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/strong><\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili announced on June 12 that his country is considering a draft law that would put an end to the country&#8217;s booming foreign surrogacy business. The Health, Labor, and Social Affairs Ministry&#8217;s current law would put an end to the country&#8217;s women carrying and delivering the biological children of foreigners [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":607,"featured_media":293518,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,4,3473],"tags":[4201,20150,20152,20148,20149,10009,1650,10953,20151],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Country of Georgia looks to ban foreign surrogacy due to &#039;countless problems&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The country of Georgia, one of the largest hubs for wealthy foreigners seeking surrogates, is looking to ban foreign surrogacy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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