Claudio Arakari, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, watches as her husband Osvaldo Nakandakare holds Soye their baby daughter born via a Ukrainian surrogate mother for the first time, after spending two weeks in quarantine, due to the coronavirus outbreak, in a hotel where the Biotexcom clinic, the country's largest surrogate operation, puts up clients, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. Authorities in Ukraine have allowed foreign parents to enter the country and collect their babies, born to surrogate mothers and stranded in Ukraine after its borders shut down under coronavirus restrictions. Thirty-one couples have arrived to Ukraine and have reunited with the infants, while 88 more families were on the way, Ukraine’s human rights ombudswoman Lyudmila Denisova said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Republished June 10, 2020 - 9:37 AM
Original Publication Date June 10, 2020 - 8:56 AM
KYIV, Ukraine - Authorities have allowed foreign parents into Ukraine to collect babies who were born to surrogate mothers and stranded in the eastern European country due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ukraine's human rights ombudswoman, Lyudmila Denisova, said Wednesday that 31 couples had arrived and been united with their children.
“It is a special day. All government bodies have reacted quickly and helped....I have already met parents from Spain, whose daughter was born five weeks ago,” Denisova said on her Facebook page.
Andrea Diez of Argentina, who got to see her child for the first time, echoed Denisova's sentiment.
“It`s a very good ending of the story, unbelievable,” Diez said.
A total of 125 babies around Ukraine were awaiting parents from abroad. Denisova said 88 more families have received entry permits and will come to Ukraine in the coming weeks.
The infants were stranded in Ukraine after the country closed its borders to prevent virus infections. The newborns attracted wide attention after Biotexcom, the country’s largest surrogacy 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 company sought to reassure parents in 12 countries: China, the United States, Italy, Spain, Britain, France, Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Austria, Mexico and Portugal - that their children were receiving good care, showing nurses bathing and caressing them.
Ukraine has a thriving surrogacy birth industry and is one of the few countries that allows foreigners to participate. About 50 clinics offer surrogate birth arrangements operate in the country, where economic struggles drive many Ukrainian women to become surrogate mothers.
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Karmanau reported from Minsk, Belarus.
News from © The Associated Press, 2020