Ukraine is a global surrogacy hub - but that could be about to end

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. Ukraine is a global surrogacy hub - but that could be about to end43 minutes ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleSofia BettizaGlobal Health Reporter & News Ukrainian, KyivBBCKarina Tarasenko says she became a surrogate because of the war and now plans to have as many surrogate babies as possibleKarina 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.

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"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.

BioTexComActivists have criticised advertising campaigns and accused clinics of turning reproduction into a commodityPrior 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 . 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.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.