Qualification of the Surrogate Mother’s Actions in Relation to the Illegal Keeping of the Child, Born in the Surrogacy Program

Abstract

Situations involving a surrogate mother keeping a newborn child born after assisted reproductive technology program and related criminal offenses have been considered. The qualification of actions of a surrogate mother has been offered. The peculiarity of the qualification lies in the inability of practitioners, especially law enforcement agencies, to determine the illegal actions of the surrogate mother in the presence of seemingly perfectly legal grounds for her to dispose of the child. The article focuses on documents that can serve as evidence of illegal behavior of a surrogate mother. The material can be useful primarily for lawyers practicing in the field of assisted reproductive technologies, including law enforcement officers. For potential SMs, the goal is to prevent them from committing such excesses by increasing their legal culture. After all, instead of doing a good deed and receiving a reward for it, she can get up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of her property, confiscation of her biological child, destruction of her family.