Infertility is in most cases a basic reason why do people address for the help of surrogate mothers. We often heard stories with the beautiful final from biological parents, the staff of the surrogacy centers, reproductive clinics etc, but we know a little about another side of this coin where there is a fraud, blackmail, deception and simply unfair relations. In this article we would like to shed a little light on a dark side and to share with readers as the real stories which happened with surrogate mothers and intended parents and to show methods of “work” of some unfair participants of the market. Unfortunately, reproductive clinics and the surrogacy centers in a pursuit of big profit do not care for security and guarantees for surrogate mothers and intended parents at all. In the justification they complain about imperfection of the legislation, corruption etc, explaining the passivity in a creative part of the solution of these problems. Also it is necessary to tell that there are many centers of surrogacy which could be categorized to fraud. We simply have not heard about many cases of deception by the surrogacy centers, surrogate mothers only for the reason that surrogate mothers do not know where and whom they should address in case of deception, also there are cases when surrogate mothers are intimidated by any threats in order they not to make public the deception facts. We sincerely hope that people who faced similar cases will not be silent and we guarantee to all who is ready to share with us “experience” — to make public via Internet media.
Several real stories …
Customers (intended parents): refusal to pay and take the born baby
- Nina Dmitrushkova from Volgograd (Russia) carried and gave birth to the daughter for the wealthy customer who wanted the grandson from the dead son. The customer did not take the girl. At first Nina thought that the man did not accept a sex of the child, but then found out that one more surrogate mother at the same time gave birth to the boy and the girl. The client did not pay money and even won court, in the law is not told that the customer is obliged to accept the baby. Nina loves little Eve and would not give her to anybody despite she has four children, but the woman understands that she was deceived and she will not receive the promised money any more. Nina tried to contact the customer, but the employee of the surrogacy center Snezhana threatened her with physical violence if she will tell this story on public. At the same time according to the customer, the employee of the surrogacy center Snezhana told him that Eve born by surrogate mother died in maternity hospital. As a result little Eve became a member of Nina’s family and а surrogate mother still is in litigation with the customer to compensate material keeping of his granddaughter.
- In two months before the expected childbirth from surrogate mother Zinaida Rakova from Ulyanovsk (Russia) the customer stopped to contact. At the most initial stage in the center of surrogacy it was suggested to sign the contract on two sheets where there was no information on the customer and a fee. As in a consequence it became clear, the customer addressed to one more surrogate mother who successfully became pregnant too. Customers were not ready to such news and through the surrogacy center suggested Zinaida to get rid of the baby by abortion, without paying any compensation. As a result Zinaida made the decision to give birth to the baby and to keep it. At the moment Zinaida has three children. Newborn abandoned Andrey and two own.
- In 2010 in one of the Russian cities surrogate mother gave birth to two twin boys. One of them was healthy, and the second had a serious hereditary illness. Customers took away the healthy boy, and abandoned from the ill. Unfortunately, customers did not take care of his further treatment and he received the status of the orphan.
- Surrogate mother Alesya Kalashnikova gave birth three months month earlier than planned but customers refused to take the born baby and to pay her the promised compensation though doctors are convinced that there is no Alesya’s fault in the incident. Customers had communication with Alesya only through the surrogacy center and told that they do not want such baby and it is not necessary to fight for his life (to disconnect from life support systems). As a result doctors saved life to the newborn baby, but even after that no one wants him. Alesya was forced to write temporary refusal of the baby as she already has the child and there are no material resources to support two children on her own. In the center of surrogacy they categorically refuse to talk with Alesya and pay any compensation, while they openly threatened her in case of disclosing the details of this story.
From private correspondence with surrogate mothers we found out that it is only iceberg top … surrogate mothers in a personal talk complained that the surrogacy centers often underpaid the promised sums. Despite of existence of the contract, they always found the groundless reasons significantly to reduce the fee intended for surrogate mother. Certainly, surrogate mother will know about it when she already gives birth to the child. At the same time surrogate mothers assume that customers most likely do not know about deception for the reason that they pay material remuneration for surrogate mother through the center of surrogacy, and the centers categorically against direct communication of customers and surrogate mothers. As a result surrogate mothers agree for smaller fee, under pressure, and sometimes having threats from the surrogacy centers staff.
Surrogate mothers: blackmail, forging documents and test results, the contract with several customers at the same time
- Sergey and Marina Frolovy from St. Petersburg through the surrogacy center found A surrogate mother Tatyana Suzdaleva. Having signed the contract and having fulfilled the undertaken obligations the married couple did not suspect through as a result they will be fated to pass. After it became clear that surrogate mother is pregnant with twins, she made new demands for significant increase in fee, threatening to get rid of babies in case of refusal. Sergey and Marina refused her requirements, having referred to terms of the contract which they signed earlier. As a result surrogate mother Tatyana Suzdaleva gave birth to twin boys, registered them as her children and disappeared in the unknown direction. More than one year judicial proceedings between biological parents of twins and surrogate mother were conducted. As a result the court decided to return children to their biological parents.
- Surrogate mother Olga Lazorina from Krasnodar region is known at forums of surrogate mothers under different names. She looks for trustful customers who send money for medical examination, journey and then disappears. And such as Olga Lazorina there is a whole legion.
- Surrogate mother Irina Morozova from Ukraine gave birth to twin boys for married couple from Italy. After the birth its financial requirements changed and after Italians refused to increase the fee, she decided to keep children. Over a year there were judicial proceedings in Ukraine, as a result the parties managed to agree and biological parents could reunite with the children
- Surrogate mother Polishchuk Olga from Voskresensk (Russia) received money from customers for tests, an expensive medical examination and then disappeared.
- Svetlana Yarovaya and her spouse, entering into a contract with a surrogate mother, did not suspect that they had faced with fraud. After some time, the surrogate mother had a miscarriage. All this time, the surrogate mother was on the full material content of the married couple. Svetlana and her husband decided to refuse the services of this surrogate mother, but she sincerely asked for a second chance. Agreeing, the couple eventually regretted, as the miscarriage story repeated. After a while, customers accidentally learned that the surrogate mother had done her miscarriage trick many times. It is authentically known that two more married couples suffered from her acts.
- Surrogate mother Svetlana Bezpyataya, gave birth to the baby who as a result became a hostage in her dirty game with biological parents. Right after that as she gave birth to the child, he was registered on her name. Later surrogate mother intended to sell the child to biological parents. As a result she is accused of two serious crimes: fraud and human trafficking.
We gave only a few examples from life here, but readers have to understand that similar cases are not rare. Biological parents become hostages in a situation when the last word is for surrogate mother. The Russian legislation in the field of surrogacy has to undergo serious changes that all participants feel safe. And certainly newborn children first of all.
Clinics- frauds: methods of unacceptable earnings
- In some reproduction clinics a pregnancy never occurs from the first attempt. It is possible to refer to some random, but such “accidents” allow to increase income of clinics significantly.
- There are cases when reproduction clinics principally do not approve a surrogate mother who is chosen by customers from the first attempt, appointing numerous and expensive inspections by results of which to customers suggest to look for other surrogate mother. And it repeats several times. After a while the rejected candidates become pregnant in other clinics.
- Often clinics work by the principle of “a uniform window”. Select a surrogate mother, the donor, carry out all necessary medical procedures and even promote obtaining the birth certificate of a baby. Such approach would seem very convenient as it deprives customer of problems, but … in such situation we face the conflict of interests. Because it is about serious money, at such clinics all tools for unfair manipulations are concentrated.
Centers of surrogacy: deception methods, pressure and threats.
- Selection of surrogate candidates without careful medical examination;
- Do not pay to surrogate mothers the full sum of the fee stated in the contract;
- Threats to surrogate mothers in case they will “risk” for publicity the deception facts;
- Pressure upon surrogate mothers for the purpose of signing the contract without figures or information about intended parents;
- Concealment from foreign customers of reliable information about possible difficulties they can face when moving to the country the born baby;
- Deliberate overestimate of the actual prices for customers from abroad;
- Preventing to acquaintance and subsequent contact of customers with their surrogate mother;
- Unfair implementation of the undertaken obligations when signing the contract. At the same time often under the contract customers pay money for good housing for surrogate mother, food, separate room in a maternity home etc., but the centers of surrogacy appropriate the money allocated for these purposes, and surrogate mother has to settle for very modest conditions;
- Concealment of reliable information from customers about results of medical examination of surrogate mothers.
After reading of this article, perhaps readers will have an opinion that we excessively stir things up… that is not so. It is obvious that there is too much problems and all of them focused on safety. Safety of interests of intended parents, safety of interests of surrogate mothers and most important safety of interests of children. The market of surrogacy is too raw and huge money which attracts more and more people to whom the moral principles and honest rules of business are alien are concentrated. But at the same time we are sincerely convinced that the effective mechanisms allowing participants of this process to interact have to be realized already in the nearest future is transparent on mutually advantageous conditions. Eventually, it is about the fate of people and their descendants.