News & Regulation
A timeline of surrogacy scandals, disputes, laws and regulatory moves. Each item is cited. Auto-scanned items are published here only after human review.
- Scandal🇬🇪 Georgia
Georgia's Kinderly agency fraud & bankruptcy; 30+ surrogates unpaid, director arrested
Kinderly went bankrupt in 2025; 30+ surrogates were left unpaid and some evicted. On 2 Oct 2025 the director was arrested (alleged misappropriation of $670k+); a co-founder was charged in absentia. Georgia recognized some surrogates as trafficking victims.
- Law🇦🇲 Armenia
Armenia removes ART age caps after Constitutional Court ruling
After the Constitutional Court found ART age caps unconstitutional, Armenia's parliament removed upper age limits for intended parents in 2025. Earlier sources citing 53/55-year caps are outdated.
- Law🇺🇦 Ukraine
Ukraine's Draft Law 13683 would ban foreign surrogacy (not yet passed)
Registered in Aug 2025, Draft Law 13683 would fully ban surrogacy for foreign intended parents and restrict export of citizens' reproductive materials during martial law and for three years after; it would also allow single Ukrainian women with a medical indication. As of mid-2026 it remains in committee, unpassed.
- Regulation🇬🇪 Georgia
Georgia recognizes surrogates as trafficking victims, opens investigation
In May 2025 a Georgian inter-agency council granted trafficking-victim status to two surrogates from the Kinderly case and opened a formal investigation into forced labor and exploitation. Rights groups cite a lack of sector regulation.
- Scandal🇬🇪 Georgia
Georgia BabyCam (Chinese-run) egg-harvesting & trafficking; Thai women rescued
A Chinese-run operation lured Thai women to Georgia with fake job ads, confiscated passports and forcibly harvested eggs. Three women were rescued in January 2025 via Georgian, Thai and Interpol cooperation; a Thai NGO estimated up to ~100 women involved.
- Law🇦🇲 Armenia
Armenia amends law — singles may apply; citizens barred as surrogates for foreigners
In July 2024 Armenia's parliament allowed single men and women to pursue surrogacy, while barring Armenian citizens from acting as surrogates for foreign intended parents, and adjusted age rules for parents and surrogates.
- Regulation🇺🇦 Ukraine
Ukraine MoH Order 383 amends assisted-reproduction rules
In March 2024 Ukraine's Ministry of Health issued Order 383, amending the earlier Order 787 ART guidelines and adding protections — e.g. requiring maternity hospitals to keep newborns separate from surrogates after birth to reduce emotional/custody disputes.
- Law🇬🇪 Georgia
Georgia's foreign-surrogacy ban withdrawn before third reading
The 2023 ban bill never passed its third reading and was withdrawn in early 2024. Foreign married heterosexual couples can still pursue commercial surrogacy in Georgia, though uncertainty remains.
- Scandal🇺🇦 Ukraine
Ukraine busts an illegal baby-selling ring posing as surrogacy
In Aug 2023 Ukrainian law enforcement broke up a criminal group in Kyiv and Kharkiv selling newborns abroad under the guise of surrogacy. In Dec 2025 a suspect was located in Germany and extradited to Ukraine.
- Law🇬🇪 Georgia
Georgian PM announces plan to ban foreign commercial surrogacy
In June 2023 Georgia's PM announced a plan to ban commercial surrogacy for foreigners and move to an altruistic-only model, intended for 1 Jan 2024, citing trafficking and exploitation concerns.
- Industry🇺🇦 Ukraine
~53 surrogate newborns medically evacuated to the Romanian border early in the war
After Russia's full-scale invasion in Feb 2022 closed Ukraine's airspace, ~53 surrogate newborns were medically evacuated from Kyiv and elsewhere to Chernivtsi (near Romania) in March. The war sharply raised evacuation, logistics and safety risks.
- Scandal🇺🇦 Ukraine
COVID lockdown strands ~50 surrogate newborns in a Kyiv hotel
In May 2020, ~46–51 surrogate newborns were stranded at the Venice Hotel in Kyiv, unable to be collected by intended parents from many countries (incl. China) due to COVID border closures. The case (centered on BioTexCom) drew criticism of advertising babies as "products".
- Scandal🇺🇦 Ukraine
Ukraine's largest surrogacy clinic BioTexCom probed for trafficking
In 2018 Ukrainian prosecutors charged BioTexCom's founder and head physician with human trafficking, document forgery and tax evasion; a trigger was an Italian couple discovering their child was not genetically related and that documents were falsified. The founder was briefly under house arrest; the case later stalled with no formal prosecution.