On November 21, TASS Russian News Agency hosted a press conference on “Surrogacy for Foreigners: Trafficking in Children in the International Market.”
During the press conference, Peter Tolstoy, Vice Speaker of the State Duma, drew the audience’s attention to the fact that the adoption of the bill to ban surrogacy for foreigners has been blocked for a long time. “The lobbyists for this way of child trafficking are also in the executive branch, unfortunately, and in other very high places,” said Peter Olegovich.
Vice-Speaker of the State Duma Anna Kuznetsova voiced hope that the bill will pass its second reading in December.
The speakers at the press conference were chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Family, Maternity and Childhood Protection, Father Fedor Lukianov, Senator Margarita Pavlova, VII State Duma Deputy Inga Yumasheva, and journalist Anna Shafran.
Inga Yumasheva presented another problem related to the surrogacy market: she reported on the need to declare a moratorium on the cross-border movement of tissue, objects and bodily liquids of citizens of the Russian Federation.
Anna Shafran drew the audience’s attention to the fact that, unlike other Russian companies, no sanctions have been imposed on agencies providing surrogacy services. The journalist spoke about the supply of Russian children to foreign gay couples, as well as cases of sexual exploitation of such children. “The law banning surrogacy for foreigners and the law banning LGBT propaganda are, in fact, companion laws that should be passed simultaneously.”