Terrible tale of surrogacy in the Ukraine

The former Chief Justice of the Family Court, John Pascoe, once described much of what happens in the world as to surrogacy as the wild West. This is the only conclusion that can be drawn from this case-set out in a Foreign Correspondent story to go to air tonight-  of an American couple who have not taken their child, Bridget, from the Ukraine. Bridget was born premature and is disabled.

What has happened to her is a disgrace.

At the centre of the story is Biotex.com, a Ukrainian surrogacy agency. Last year the Ukrainian Justice Minister accused that agency of fraud, a story I wrote about on this blog. Those who access surrogacy in the Ukraine must be heterosexual married couples, one of whom is genetically the parent of the child. According to the Justice Minister, Biotex.com told an Italian couple in 2011 that there was a genetic link to their child. A subsequent test undertaken in Italy last year said that there was no link.

Quite simply, those engage in child trafficking should face the full weight of the law. That’s what happened to California lawyer Theresa Erickson back in 2012. She had come up with a scheme that went like this: American intended parents wanted to have a child through surrogacy were told that, by sheer luck, the intended parents in another Ukrainian surrogacy agreement had pulled out, and that their baby would be born soon. In essence, babies were made to order. Theresa Erickson was jailed for trafficking as were her co-accused.

Renowned California surrogacy attorney Andy Vorzimer said this about Theresa Erickson’s scam:

“These were criminals that were creating human life for sale. Many people consider this to be a surrogacy arrangement gone awry. But this was not surrogacy in any shape or form. They attempted to create the most marketable baby available, which was blond hair, blue-eyed baby, while simultaneously pulling on the heart strings of intended parents. It defies description the immorality that was involved in this ongoing operation that went on for years.”