OREANDA-NEWS  The Federation Council at a meeting on Wednesday approved a law banning the services of surrogate mothers in Russia for foreigners, as well as for single men. The document was supported by 141 senators, one abstained, there were no votes against.

The initiative was submitted to the Duma by a group of deputies and senators in December last year. The document provides that only married citizens of the Russian Federation or a single woman, a citizen of Russia, who cannot bear or give birth to a child on her own for medical reasons, will be able to use the services of surrogate mothers.

The right of former spouses to be registered as parents of a child who was born by a surrogate mother is secured only if the court does not establish that the dissolved marriage of such persons was fictitious. In addition, if one of the spouses died during the pregnancy of the surrogate mother or the citizenship of one of them, both at once or a single woman was terminated, they can also be recorded by the parents in case of obtaining permission from the surrogate mother.

A child born by a surrogate mother in the territory of the Russian Federation acquires Russian citizenship by birth. The law also cancels the possibility of a simplified procedure for renouncing citizenship for children born from surrogate mothers, in which one of the parents is a citizen of Russia, and the other parent has foreign citizenship. This also applies to cases where both parents are foreigners.