Prague, June 15 (CTK) – The hiring of a surrogate mother is annually used by hundreds of infertile couples in the Czech Republic though the country has no law to define conditions for this practice, daily Pravo writes on Wednesday.
The price of a surrogate mother’s carrying and giving birth to a child ranges from 300,000 to 500,000 crowns, the paper writes, referring to experts.
Some potential surrogate mothers offer their service through newspaper advertisements.
Infertile couples, too, search for a surrogate mother openly in public.
“An ideal candidate is a divorced woman or a widow who has at least one or two healthy children of her own and does not suffer from any diseases,” the paper quotes Olga Sovova, deputy head of the Hradec Kralove University’s Institute of Social Care, as saying.
Many surrogate mothers do not want to see the baby after their birth, and the clinic’s personnel are told at the very beginning that the child will be given to the father.
The “new” parents start caring for the newborn baby at the maternity clinic and the adoption procedure is launched two moths after the childbirth, Sovova said.
“This is legal as the law does not forbid this,” she said.
This practice has been confirmed by a child welfare official who requested anonymity.
“The mother leaves the baby at the clinic and the new parents take the baby home,” the official told Pravo.
Sovova said it is a mistake of Czech lawmakers to turn a blind eye to the practice being pursued in spite of the absence of a relevant law.
Some reproduction medicine clinics even offer surrogate motherhood contracts to their clients.
“This is of no use, in view of the current legislation. The mother is the woman who gave birth to the child, and no contract can change it. The surrogate mother can decide not to give the child to the client couple. Or the child may be born with health defects and no one claims the parenthood, but the man is obliged to support the child because he had himself registered as the father,” Sovova said.
Addressed by Pravo, the Justice Ministry said it is not going to prepare any legislation dealing with surrogate motherhood.
Sovova, nevertheless, said the state should somehow reflect that this practice occurs in the Czech Republic and that the Czech Republic is an advanced country.
“There are countries where surrogate motherhood is banned, including Germany and France. Elsewhere, it is permitted, in Macedonia for example. In our country, no one pays attention to this…The lawmakers should cease to turn a blind eye to the issue and say either that the practice is banned or define its clear rules,” Sovova said.
