Stranded by coronavirus, Ukraine surrogate babies await parents

Ukraine's human rights ombudswoman has appealed to authorities to find a solution for scores of infants born to surrogate mothers for foreign parents who are stranded because the country's borders are closed under coronavirus restrictions. | Above: A nurse and newborns are seen in the Hotel Venice owned by BioTexCom clinic in Kiev.

Ukraine has a thriving surrogate industry and is one of the few countries that allows the service for foreigners. Concern is high that a long border closure will place a burden on clinics and distress the parents. | Above: A nurse cares for newborn babies at Kiev's Venice hotel.

"About 100 children are already waiting for their parents in different centers of reproductive medicine. And if quarantine is extended, then it will not be about hundreds, but about thousands," said ombudswoman Lyudmila Denisova. | Above: Nurses care for newborn babies at Kiev's Venice hotel.

The issue attracted wide attention after Biotexcom, the country's largest surrogate operation, posted a video showing dozens of babies in bassinets arrayed in tight rows in two large rooms of the hotel where the clinic puts up clients. The video aims to reassure absent parent that their little ones are receiving good care, showing nurses bathing and caressing them.

Denisova said there are 51 babies in all at Biotexcom, 15 of them under the care of parents who were able to make it into the country before the shutdown but can't leave. Ukraine's restrictions are to remain in place until at least May 22.

Denisova said the clinic appealed to Ukraine's foreign ministry to facilitate the arrival of babies' parents but the issue has not yet been resolved.

The parents are from 12 countries: China, the United States, Italy, Spain, Britain, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Mexico and Portugal.

About 50 clinics that offer surrogate births operate in Ukraine. The country's economic struggles drive many Ukrainian women to become surrogate mothers.

Commercial surrogacy is illegal in most European countries but permitted in Ukraine. One of the poorest European countries, Ukraine, which borders the EU and Russia, is an increasingly popular destination for foreigners looking for surrogate mothers.

Founder of the surrogacy clinic BioTexCom Albert Tochilovsky poses at the clinic-owned Hotel Venice in Kiev.

A nurse takes care of babies born to surrogate mothers in a large room of the hotel where the Biotexcom clinic, puts up clients, in Kiev.

Rafa Aires from Spain, the father of newborn Marta who is unable to collect his daughter, in the Hotel Venice owned by BioTexCom clinic in Kiev.

Nurses takes care of babies born to surrogate mothers for foreign parents in a large room of the hotel where the Biotexcom clinic, the country’s largest surrogate operation, puts up clients, in Kiev.