Foreigners will no longer be able to access commercial surrogacy in Georgia under a draft law expected to come into effect next year.
Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced that only Georgian citizens would be able to access surrogacy within the country in future. Georgia had become an increasingly popular destination for commercial surrogacy after similar bans were passed in India and Russia (see BioNews 982 and BioNews 1170), as well as the war in Ukraine (see BioNews 1188). In 2020, 98 percent of intended parents in commercial surrogacy arrangements in Georgia were foreigners.
'Foreign citizens have turned this issue into a business, and in recent years, there is no regulation at all regarding this issue,' said Garibashvili.
Health Minister Zurab Azarashivili added that foreigners would also be banned from accessing IVF, while suggesting that surrogacy and IVF would only be open to Georgian couples on an altruistic rather than commercial basis:
'A Georgian citizen who wants to be a donor or surrogate must act within the altruism principle and only accept compensation for the inconvenience related to the process – either medical examinations or labour-related expenses,' he said.
Related to this, the proposed law will also restrict advertisements for surrogacy. It has been reported that surrogate agencies in Georgia attempted to recruit surrogates with offers of $20,000-27,000 per pregnancy, compared with the average salary for female employees in Georgia of under $550 per month.
Garibashvili also voiced concern for the safety of surrogates and children, as well as concerns around human trafficking and LGBT+ parents:
'There are reports that same-sex couples are picking up the babies born here and there can be countless problems,' he said.
Since 2020 Georgia has required intended parents to be heterosexual couples who have been in a marriage or cohabiting relationship for at least one year.
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