EAST SLAVIC SURROGATE MOTHERHOOD: STATE OF LEGAL REGULATION AND RISK OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION

The aim: The aim of the study is to determine the state of legal regulation of surrogacy in Ukraine, Russian Federation and Belarus, to identify risks of human rights violations, to identify legal and medical mechanisms to combat the exploitation of women, and to outline a portrait of a surrogate mother.

Materials and methods: The empirical basis is the legislation of Ukraine, Russian Federation and Belarus, which regulates the service of surrogacy, information from the websites of agencies and clinics in this area, as well as personal stories of 41 surrogate mothers, set out in open sources. The following methods were used: dialectical, comparative, statistical, induction and deduction, questionnaire, analysis and synthesis, content analysis.

Conclusions: The results of the study clarify both the common features of the legal regulation of surrogacy in the East Slavic countries, and the specifics of each of them; the main problems in the field of its application are outlined; the risks of violation of the rights of genetic parents, children and surrogate mothers are characterized. Legal and medical mechanisms for counteracting the exploitation of surrogate mothers have been identified.