Moscow, March 27, 2017
Photo: thoughtsonliberty.com
A bill, which the Russian Orthodox Church supports, has been introduced in the State Duma to ban surrogate motherhood in Russia, as TASS reports. Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church and Society and the Media Vakhtang Kipshidze stated that the Church sees the practice as degrading to the dignity of women and undermining family values.
“We believe that the practice of surrogate motherhood demeans the dignity of women. Such an approach to the birth of children does not correspond to our views on marriage and family. This situation can be viewed as a mother selling her child, which is morally questionable,” he stated.
The deputy chairman stressed that the desire to bear and raise children is perfectly normal, “but it’s not necessary to resort to surrogate motherhood for it. “It’s absolutely unnecessary to resort to technology that undermines our views on family and the relationship of children and mothers. You can turn to the practice of adopting children, who are also in need of parental love,” Kipshidze said.
He noted that surrogacy is prohibited in many countries, but in addition to legislative barriers, there should also be a “moral rejection and education in the spirit of respect for the dignity of women, which cannot be considered incubators for other people’s children.”
According to Senator Anton Belyakov, who authored the draft bill, “Surrogacy is child trafficking. In my opinion, it’s not just immoral, but violates the rights of women and children. Therefore such deals should be banned in Russia, as in most civilized countries.”
He stressed that there have been many scandals in Russia in recent years connected with the failure of surrogate mothers to give up the child, the transfer of children to homosexual families, the separation of twins, and other conflict situations.
