Legislative regulation of the removal of children by foreigners through the surrogacy procedure: overview of the working group meeting in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation

This review article was prepared based on the results of the meeting of the working group on legislative regulation of socially significant issues held in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on the topic: «Legislative regulation of the removal of children by foreigners through the surrogate motherhood procedure». This meeting was a continuation of comprehensive measures for the development of state policy in the field of legal regulation of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) in our country, which were initiated during public hearings at the Public Chamber of Russian Federation in December of the last year (a review of the Public Chamber hearings was published in the journal «Gaps in Russian legislation», No. 1, 2021). At the meeting of the working group the problem of the removal of children born to surrogate mothers abroad was brought up again. The participants in the discussion stated that the well-established process of actual trade in children causes significant damage to demographic stability (through reproductive tourism there is an outflow of the population from the country), violates the rights of minors (the child is perceived as an object of transaction) and other participants in surrogacy programs (surrogate mother, surrogate spouse, genetic parents, medical workers), and is a real threat to national security. Taking into consideration the amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation and at the same time considering the multifaceted nature of the stated problems, it was decided to develop point amendments to the legislative acts on health protection (to establish a ban on the use of ART by foreign citizens and single men and women), civil registration (to make civil registry offices responsible for registering the birth of a child with a certificate of marriage for the parents), information and information technology (to provide for a ban on advertising of surrogacy and its support services) to prevent the uncontrolled transportation of children abroad, after which the relevant committees of the State Duma will begin detailed examination of draft laws in the field of reproductive technology.

medical law, demography, national security, child rights, reproductive technologies, assisted reproductive technologies, surrogacy, coronavirus pandemic, family law, review of the working group meeting, Russian State Duma, health care