The Nightmare of Being a Surrogate Mother in Wartime

One Ukrainian embryologist has estimated that before the war, about 3,200 surrogacy implantations were performed in the country each year.

Typically, parents who opt for surrogacy fly into the country and work with a local clinic, conceiving embryos that are subsequently implanted in the wombs of Ukrainian women whom they have interviewed or chosen from descriptions the agency provides.

In some cases, the parents choose to build a relationship with the woman carrying their child; almost always, the parents fly back to Ukraine nine months later, either to be there for the birth or to receive their newborn and take the child back home.

Even under the best of circumstances, the arrangement can be fraught. Now, Ukraine’s surrogates are working under the worst of circumstances. And the country's booming surrogacy business has become a logistical and ethical mess — and hell for the women at the center. Read more

@nytimes