Surrogacy in Ukraine – legal aspects, cost and agencies in Ukraine

Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) are rapidly developing, and today, thanks to IVF and surrogacy, infertile couples around the world can now become parents even with the most challenging forms of infertility. If IVF or egg donation treatment is not recommended in your case, it worth to consider surrogacy as an option. Surrogate motherhood programs are legal only in a few countries in the world, and Ukraine is one of them. Medical tourism in Ukraine is thriving, and infertile couples from all over the world come to the Ukrainian centers of reproductive technology to avoid problems with the law in their homeland and to pursue their dream of becoming parents.

The legitimacy of surrogate motherhood in Ukraine

Ukraine is one of the few countries where commercial surrogacy is allowed by law. What is important to know, ART programs are regulated by the Civil and Family Codes of Ukraine and a series of legal and regulatory instruments. What are the advantages of surrogacy in Ukrainian centers of reproductive medicine?

• such agencies work under a contract in which the rights and obligations of the parties, the amounts, and schedule of payments, the procedure for dealing with unforeseen situations are all stated and prescribed. According to the signed contract, the couple has the right to receive all the information about the health of the surrogate mother before and during the pregnancy;
• the biological parents of the newborn are immediately recorded in the baby’s birth certificate, there is no need to adopt a child Ukrainian legislation does not limit the amount of financial compensation to a surrogate mother;
• ART programs can only be conducted in licensed medical institutions;
• the surrogate has absolutely no rights to the newborn, so she must sign an agreement, in which she undertakes to give the baby after birth to her biological parents.

Ukrainian legislation is loyal to ART, therefore, the number of infertile couples who travel to Ukraine with a view to resolving the problem of infertility is growing rapidly. The other reason why infertile couples come to Ukrainian clinics is affordable cost and high-quality level of medical care.

What is included in a surrogacy program?

As you might know already, infertility treatment using ART may not be financially accessible to everyone. The affordable cost of gestational surrogacy is one of the main reasons why foreign couples from all over the world come to Ukraine in search of a surrogate mother or an egg donor. In Ukraine, couples do not have to worry about legal fees or documents, since they only pay for the program, and the surrogacy agency takes care of the legal, organizational, medical, and coordination costs. The total cost of the program consists of the following expenses:

• medical examination of a surrogate mother and a married couple,
• legal support, finalization of the contracts and the package of documents for the child,
• IVF procedure + all necessary drugs,
• housing rental, transfer,
• preservation of pregnancy in the hospital, if necessary,
• pregnancy follow-up,
• childbirth (naturally or cesarean section),
• monthly payments for food, clothing and other expenses,
• financial compensation for surrogate mother.

Surrogacy agencies in Ukraine

Ukraine has a large number of ART centers, which annually treat hundreds of married couples from all over the world. VittoriaVita, located in Kiev, is the leading surrogate motherhood agency in Ukraine which offers effective infertility treatment programs using IVF, egg and sperm donation, and surrogate motherhood programs. The agency has its own base of egg donors, sperm, surrogate mothers who have undergone the necessary medical examinations. The agency provides full support for the couple within the program, namely:

• selection of surrogate and egg donor,
• examination of a married couple and surrogates,
• conclusion of an agreement,
• information about the health of the surrogate mother and the course of pregnancy,
• insurance,
• applying for a child’s documents at the embassy, full legal support,
• pregnancy follow-up, childbirth.

How much does a surrogacy program cost?

Vittoria Vita offers a wide range of programs depending on the needs of the infertile couple

VittoriaVita offers its clients a wide range of services in the field of infertility treatment depending on the diagnosis, the health of the couple and other factors. For couples where a woman can not independently carry out a child for medical reasons, the agency offers a program of surrogate motherhood. In situations where a woman of reproductive age has no eggs, or for medical reasons they cannot be used for fertilization, the agency provides egg donation services. Depending on the problems and wishes of the couple, one of the surrogate motherhood programs will be offered:

1. IVF using donor eggs + surrogate services, while the number of IVF attempts is not limited.
2. IVF using donor eggs + surrogate mother services with one attempt of embryo transfer.
3. IVF with biological material of a married couple + surrogate mother services.

Each program is developed individually for a couple, taking into account their features and wishes. VittoriaVita works according to the current Ukrainian legislation and for the past 10 years of its operation, the agency team helped more than 500 couples from around the world to become parents.

This is a collaborative post.