Surrogacy Law in Ukraine

Since January 1, 2004, when the new Family Code was adopted, Ukraine has become an attractive destination for international surrogacy, offering affordable medical treatment along with highly qualified fertility specialists, as well as optimal choice of European type surrogate mothers and egg donors.

The key article of the Family Code of Ukraine on surrogacy numbered 123 (paragraph 2) stipulates that if the embryo conceived by the spouses using Assisted Reproductive Technology is transferred into the body of another woman, the spouses shall be the parents of the child. Such regulation allows the Intended Parents to be considered the child’s parents from the very moment of its conception, standing out among legislation of other countries where additional recognition of parentage, i.e. court parenting order or post-adoption procedure are needed.
Medical side of surrogacy is governed by the “Instruction on Procedures for Assisted Reproductive Technologies”, adopted by the Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 771 of 12/23/2008 (hereinafter referred to as the Order No. 771).

Who can use Assisted Reproductive Technologies according to the law?

According to the Order No. 771 implantation of an embryo is conducted upon medical indications, provided informed written consent of both Intended Parents and the Surrogate and their statements on application of ART. These medical conditions are namely as follows:

§  Absence of a womb (inborn or acquired)

§  Deformation of the cavity or cervix uteri, making pregnancy and delivery impossible

§  Synechi of womb cavity

§  Severe somatic diseases, making duration of pregnancy impossible

§  Multiple (more than 4) implantation failures associated with the transfer of high quality embryos.

What is marital status of the genetic parents?

Though Ukrainian legislation stipulates that each woman and/or man of majority age can undergo treatment by means of Assisted Reproductive Technologies on medical indication, and does not contain any straightforward prohibition for the use of surrogacy for co-habiting or semi-sex Intended Parents as well as single persons, in practice surrogacy is performed for officially married couples only. This is mainly caused by close interpretation of aforementioned Article 123 of the Family Code of Ukraine, handling exclusively outcomes of embryo implantation conceived by the spouses with no mention of other possible participants of surrogacy program.
As of today, there are no age limits established for the Intended Parents to undergo surrogacy program in Ukraine.

Requirements for the Surrogate Mother

Pursuant to the Order No. 771 a Surrogate has to be a legally capable woman of majority age (over 18 years old), who has at least one healthy child of her own, provided her voluntary written consent and absence of contraindications for gestation of pregnancy.

In order to ensure smooth course of surrogacy program the Surrogate is carefully screened not only with regard to her excellent health condition, but also with regard to her ability to cope which emotional side of surrogacy, which is performed with a help of qualified psychologist.

Birth registration in Surrogacy Cases

Ukrainian legislation is very favorable with regard to birth registration of the child born via surrogacy, since the names of Genetic Parents are recorded in the birth entry of the Vital Statistics Office from the very beginning, and only the column “Remarks” of the birth register records information with regard to the name of Surrogate Mother. However, this record is kept strictly with the Vital Statistics Office and is confidential.
Pursuant to the Law of Ukraine 07/01/2010 No. 2398/VI “On Vital Statistics Registration” and the “Rules for Vital Statistic Registration in Ukraine” No. 52/5 of 10/18/2000, birth registration upon applications of the foreign and stateless citizens is accomplished in the same way pursuant to the Ukrainian legislation.
The main benefit of such regulation is certainly the fact that parental rights of both Ukrainian nationals and international Genetic Parents are entered in the birth record outright, with no need to take any further steps for establishment or confirmation of the child’s affiliation.

In cases where surrogacy is performed with the use of egg or sperm donation the basic adjustment remains the same: both Intended parents are deemed to be legal parents of the child born through surrogacy in Ukraine, while the donor should have no rights and obligations with regard to the baby, as the child shall have no rights and obligations toward the egg/sperm donor.