Ukraine has become a prominent surrogacy hub, with women like Karina offering their wombs for couples worldwide. However, the ongoing conflict and its consequences may threaten this industry.
Key points
Ukraine is a prominent surrogacy hub.
Karina is a surrogate pregnant with a foreign couple's embryo.
The war has devastated cities like Bakhmut.
Surrogacy provides financial relief for women in Ukraine.
The conflict may threaten the surrogacy industry.
Mentioned in this story
UkraineBakhmut
Karina is six months pregnant, but the foetus inside her womb is not her own.
The 22-year-old from eastern Ukraine is a surrogate, pregnant with an embryo from a Chinese couple's egg and sperm.
At the age of 17 Karina's home was destroyed when her city, Bakhmut, became one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds in the early phase of Russia's full-scale invasion.
With most of the city turned to rubble and ash, she and her partner moved to Kyiv but they struggled to find steady work.
It was when Karina was in a shop one day, with barely enough money to pay for bread and nappies for their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, that she decided to turn to paid surrogacy.
She says she never would have become a surrogate were it not for the war, which has led to millions of people losing jobs and businesses, surging inflation and a sharp drop in Ukraine's GDP.
"At first, becoming a surrogate made me angry and disappointed, but now I've just accepted it," says Karina Tarasenko who now lives on the outskirts of Kyiv in an apartment provided by her surrogacy clinic. She is pregnant with a girl.
She will earn £12,500 ($17,000), roughly double the average salary in Ukraine, though she'll get most of the money after she gives birth.
Karina had been due to receive £15,500 ($21,000), but when one of the twins she was pregnant with died, her pay was cut, as was stipulated in her contract.
Despite her initial misgivings, Karina now plans to have as many surrogate babies as her body will allow to save up to buy a home.
But the decision may soon be taken out of her hands.
Prior to the war, Ukraine was widely cited as the world's second commercial surrogacy hub behind the United States.
While the conflict significantly impacted surrogacies, they have nearly bounced back to pre-war levels, experts have told the BBC.
But Ukraine's parliament is now considering a bill that would introduce stricter oversight of the surrogacy industry and effectively ban access to foreigners, who make up 95% of the intended parents. The proposals have widespread support across Ukraine's parliament.
The bill aims to regulate more tightly an industry that has been accused of turning reproduction into a commodity and exploiting poor, vulnerable women. Supporters of the bill also argue that Ukrainian women should not be having surrogate babies for foreigners at a time when birthrates have plummeted due to the war - though the number of babies born through surrogacy is a small proportion of births.
"Because of the war the number of women who are desperate is growing, and clinics offer them this opportunity because Western couples want to buy babies cheaply," says Maria Dmytrieva, a women's rights activist who opposes all surrogacy on ethical grounds and argues the proposed law does not go far enough.
Q&A
What is the current status of surrogacy in Ukraine?
Surrogacy in Ukraine is thriving, but the ongoing conflict poses risks to its future.
How has the war affected surrogacy in Ukraine?
The war has led to significant destruction and economic hardship, impacting the surrogacy industry and the women involved.
Who are the surrogates in Ukraine and what challenges do they face?
Surrogates like Karina often come from war-torn areas and face financial struggles, prompting them to seek surrogacy as a source of income.
Why is Ukraine considered a global hub for surrogacy?
Ukraine is viewed as a surrogacy hub due to its legal framework, affordability, and the availability of healthy surrogates.
See every story in News — including breaking news and analysis.
She believes the practice should be banned entirely in Ukraine.
She accuses surrogacy clinics of openly targeting poorer women, pointing to social media advertising.
One AI-generated advert in January this year, posted by a clinic to recruit new surrogates, shows a woman forced to decide between buying wood to heat her stove or clothes for her children, appealing to the hardship many Ukrainians have endured during the war.
Another advertising campaign in 2021, by Ukraine's largest surrogacy clinic, BioTexCom Centre for Human Reproduction, promotes a "Black Friday sale" on surrogate babies.
Challenged by the BBC over whether these adverts could be seen as being offensive, BioTexCom defended them, saying they were effective in bringing attention to surrogacy.
The clinic has also come under criticism for the way it operates. In 2018, the prosecutor's office launched an investigation into the clinic's chief executive officer, Albert Tochilovsky, and two other former members of staff, on suspicion of offences including human trafficking.
It said that the pre-trial investigation had since been suspended to allow for "international co-operation" and gathering information from abroad.
BioTexCom and Tochilovsky say they always act within the law and "categorically deny the allegations".
The prosecutor did not give details of the trafficking allegation but BioTexCom told the BBC it involved a DNA mismatch between a set of parents and a baby. The clinic says its staff were not responsible and that they "think the issue happened during the sperm collection" which took place in another country.
The company says it helps people fulfil their dreams of becoming parents, gives women a chance to make money legally and provides them with medical care, accommodation and food.
Karina initially approached BioTexCom to be a surrogate but chose not to proceed with the clinic, feeling they had treated her coldly in initial appointments with them.
There are also cases of babies being abandoned after birth when biological parents change their minds.
In Ukraine, the intended parent is legally responsible for the baby after birth and it is against the law for them to abandon a child for any reason.
But in practice, enforcement across borders can be challenging.
Wei, who is now five years old, suffered severe brain damage after he was born prematurely in 2021. His surrogacy was arranged through BioTexCom.
He now lives in a state-run home for disabled children in Kyiv.
When the BBC visited, Wei was having mashed banana with his friends at the home. They sit together for every meal.
Wei cannot sit unaided, hold his head or see properly, and will require round-the-clock care for the rest of his life.
After learning about his condition, his intended parents from a country in South East Asia chose not to collect him. They effectively disappeared, and repeated attempts by authorities and BioTexCom to contact them failed.
Wei's surrogate mother did not want him either, and under Ukrainian law she had no legal obligations to him.
Valeria Soruchan from Ukraine's Health Ministry, who is among those pushing for the change to the law, says "a lot" of children born through surrogacy are left behind, though the government does not keep exact figures on this.
She is not opposed to surrogacy in principle but is critical of the lack of regulation in Ukraine and supports a ban on access for foreigners.
BioTexCom's CEO Tochilovsky described what happened as a "tragedy", saying that when parents abandon a child, "we partly consider it our responsibility".
When children are abandoned, there is no legal obligation for clinics to contribute to the costs of keeping them in state-run homes, which receive a mix of public and private funds, and BioTexCom has not made a financial contribution to Wei's.
Children with disabilities as severe as Wei's rarely find an adoptive family. Fifteen families have viewed Wei's file but none has expressed an interest in adopting him.
Yet there are those who argue that commercial surrogacy can benefit all sides.
For five years Himatraj and Rajvir Bajwa from London tried unsuccessfully to start a family, including with two rounds of IVF, before they decided to pursue surrogacy.
Rajvir, 38, has severe endometriosis, making it much harder to conceive. She also has multiple sclerosis.
The couple decided against the UK, where only altruistic surrogacy is allowed, meaning the mother is not given a financial reward but can be provided expenses. In the UK, surrogacy arrangements are more informal and often arranged either through friends, family, or non-profit organisations which match intended parents with surrogates.
Under UK law, the surrogate is legally responsible for the child until a parental order is made, which transfers legal responsibility from them to the intended parents.
Himatraj and Rajvir were concerned about the prospect of having no immediate legal rights over the baby. There have been cases of altruistic surrogates changing their mind about giving up babies, though these cases are exceptionally rare.
The couple were impressed at how surrogacy is organised in Ukraine, and the cost of surrogacy in the country was another factor.
They used BioTexCom last year and paid around £65,000 ($87,770) - far less than in the United States, where surrogacy can exceed £110,000 $150,000. The couple had a good experience with BioTexCom.
Using IVF, they created an embryo in London, which was shipped to Kyiv and stored in the clinic's cryogenic storage tanks.
In June last year, they arrived in Kyiv for the birth of their baby.
But because of the time it took for UK authorities to complete the paperwork needed and issue their son a passport, they spent his first three months in Kyiv, in and out of a bomb shelter, as Russia bombed the city.
"It was scary and surreal," says Rajvir.
They returned to England with their son in late August.
In June, they'll celebrate his first birthday.
The couple oppose the Ukrainian bill, arguing the surrogacy agency they went through had brought them "joy and happiness".
"They gave us something we never thought possible - they've made us a family," says Himatraj, 37.
Himatraj and his wife wanted to meet their surrogate, and when they did they brought her chocolates and flowers.
They said they did not believe she had been exploited.
"It was obviously always their choice and it's a means for them. And if it's something that will help them, then, at the end of the day, I'm sure everybody's happy with the end result."
Karina also rejects the idea that commercial surrogacy is exploitative.
"No-one is forcing us. This is my body, my decision... I'll get my reward for giving them happiness."
She is opposed to the law change, saying it would "completely collapse" her plans to buy a home.
Looking down at her stomach, she adds: "I know this is not my child, but I love her. I talk to her. When she kicks, I tell her that her parents are waiting for her.
"I just hope she has a good life."
Additional reporting by: Fay Nurse, BBC World Service and Victoria Prisedskaya, BBC News Ukrainian
This is part of the Global Women series from the BBC World Service, sharing untold and important stories from around the globe
