InternationalRead Next
Pop Culture
'Dancing With the Stars' pro to compete while pregnant with third baby
Cassy Cooke
·Spotlight Articles
Discriminatory and devaluing: Inside Europe's surrogacy black market
As surrogacy thrives in Europe, a black market is reportedly also thriving, with stories of women being held prisoner in hotels and forced to undergo c-sections.
Women are being enticed into predatory contracts, allegedly due to rising demand for surrogates.
Predators often recruit desperate women on social media with the promise of large cash payments.
Some women reported they were given no medical treatment, even as they began experiencing complications.
Surrogates have said they were forced into c-sections and left to recover in storage rooms, without receiving postpartum medical care.
Some trafficking rings have brought women to Europe, confiscated their passports, and held them prisoner in hotel rooms as their eggs were harvested.
A report from the Fuller Project revealed a thriving black market based on surrogacy and egg harvesting in Europe.
As the U.S. Sun reported, the surrogacy industry is more lucrative than ever before, with current estimates predicting a massive profit increase, from $22 billion a year today to $129 billion by 2032.
While laws on surrogacy vary across Europe, the European Parliament has classified surrogacy as human trafficking. Accordingly, some countries, like Türkiye, have banned surrogacy, while others, like Georgia, embrace it. Still others, like the United Kingdom, allow only 'altruistic surrogacy.'
This atmosphere has allowed a black market to thrive, in which desperate women living in poverty agree to surrogacy or egg harvesting contracts with promises of cash payments — and an unregulated fertility industry is pulling the strings.
"One of the most important issues is the significant imbalance of power between surrogate mothers and the agencies," lawyer Nino Andriashvili told the Sun. “Surrogate mothers can be in a particularly vulnerable position. The existence of a contract does not mean a woman’s rights are protected.”
Andriashvili represented victims of a Georgian surrogacy agency, Kinderly, which used social media to recruit potential surrogates. Gulya (a pseudonym) is one example; she saw a Kinderly ad on TikTok, which promised $16,000, monthly allowances, and bonuses for carrying twins.
Gulya was a single mother whose older son had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She lost her job as her marriage fell apart and was struggling to provide for her children. This led her to take the risk of becoming a surrogate; the money promised would be enough for a down payment on a home.
Traveling from Kyrgyzstan’s capital of Bishkek to Tbilisi in Georgia, Gulya became pregnant with twins in months. Other women were recruited from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Russia, and were told they could earn as much as $30,000.
Gulya began experiencing complications, and suspected gestational diabetes. But her coordinators at Kinderly stopped communicating with her, and no testing to confirm a diagnosis, nor any treatment, was given. When she went into labor in January of 2025, she was seriously ill.
“I already had a high fever, convulsions," she recalled. "I arrived [at the hospital] at about five centimetres dilated."
She was immediately taken for an emergency c-section, and was wheeled out as the next patient was brought in. She was then left to recover in a storage room.
The twins' parents didn't arrive, and Gulya said it was painful hearing the twins cry with no one to pick them up or hold them. After being discharged, she was sent back to her apartment; the $20,000 payment she was promised never came.
She received no postpartum care, and Gulya — along with dozens of other surrogates — were left abandoned when Kinderly declared bankruptcy.
She later discovered the twin girls she birthed were for a Chinese couple who also had purchased twin boys from another surrogate, born just months earlier.
“I worry about the girls' future,” she said through tears.
“This case is important because it showed that problems in the surrogacy sector cannot simply be viewed as contractual or financial disputes," Andriashvili said. “Systemic vulnerabilities and risks create real opportunities for exploitation of surrogate mothers and violations of their rights.”
Kinderly is far from the only scandal; other surrogacy networks have also been uncovered, with women from countries like Thailand and Nigeria lured to Europe with promises of large payments. However, these stories seem to vary based on the surrogate's ethnicity, and agencies have allegedly been dishonest about the compensation.
One woman, Grace, wanted to leave Nigeria, and the $6,000 payment to be a surrogate was seen as a way out. Yet when she arrived in Georgia, her contract had listed her compensation as $10,000; the agent who was working with her was going to keep the other $4,000. Grace also discovered that African women were paid less than Russians, Central Asians, Thais, and Filipinos. The explanation she received was that flights were more expensive and African women were harder to match.
“It's discrimination. [Our] uterus is the same,” Grace said.
She pursued surrogacy with another agency, and got pregnant after several attempts, with $26,000 promised. But when her baby was found to have genetic abnormalities, she was told to have an abortion; her contract refused payment for a miscarriage or abortion before 24 weeks, so she received just $2,000.
“They don't care about the surrogate. They just want you to be pregnant," she said.
In addition, trafficking rings have been uncovered, which take women to Europe with promises of payment and free housing. Instead, their passports are seized and they are locked in hotels, where they are given hormones to stimulate egg production. Then their eggs harvested and sold.
Helen Gibson, CEO of Surrogacy Concern, told the Sun international surrogacy needs to be abolished, especially as growing numbers of single men are purchasing surrogate-born babies from low-income women overseas.
"The majority of single men are looking abroad for a surrogate child – that’s something to be very, very concerned about. Overseas, women cannot change their mind and have no rights over the baby," she said. "It reduces women to incubators. A mother’s instincts are overridden by contracts and their bodies are controlled before and after the birth.”
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Cassy Cooke
·
Activism
Angeline Tan
·
International
Cassy Cooke
·
International
Bridget Sielicki
·
International
Nancy Flanders
·
Politics
Cassy Cooke
·
Pop Culture
Cassy Cooke
·International
Cassy Cooke
·Politics
Cassy Cooke
·
Politics
Cassy Cooke
·
Analysis
Cassy Cooke
·Discriminatory and devaluing: Inside Europe's surrogacy black market
As surrogacy thrives in Europe, a black market is reportedly also thriving, with stories of women being held prisoner in hotels and forced to undergo c-sections.
Women are being enticed into predatory contracts, allegedly due to rising demand for surrogates.
Predators often recruit desperate women on social media with the promise of large cash payments.
Some women reported they were given no medical treatment, even as they began experiencing complications.
Surrogates have said they were forced into c-sections and left to recover in storage rooms, without receiving postpartum medical care.
Some trafficking rings have brought women to Europe, confiscated their passports, and held them prisoner in hotel rooms as their eggs were harvested.
A report from the Fuller Project revealed a thriving black market based on surrogacy and egg harvesting in Europe.
As the U.S. Sun reported, the surrogacy industry is more lucrative than ever before, with current estimates predicting a massive profit increase, from $22 billion a year today to $129 billion by 2032.
While laws on surrogacy vary across Europe, the European Parliament has classified surrogacy as human trafficking. Accordingly, some countries, like Türkiye, have banned surrogacy, while others, like Georgia, embrace it. Still others, like the United Kingdom, allow only 'altruistic surrogacy.'
This atmosphere has allowed a black market to thrive, in which desperate women living in poverty agree to surrogacy or egg harvesting contracts with promises of cash payments — and an unregulated fertility industry is pulling the strings.
"One of the most important issues is the significant imbalance of power between surrogate mothers and the agencies," lawyer Nino Andriashvili told the Sun. “Surrogate mothers can be in a particularly vulnerable position. The existence of a contract does not mean a woman’s rights are protected.”
Andriashvili represented victims of a Georgian surrogacy agency, Kinderly, which used social media to recruit potential surrogates. Gulya (a pseudonym) is one example; she saw a Kinderly ad on TikTok, which promised $16,000, monthly allowances, and bonuses for carrying twins.
Gulya was a single mother whose older son had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She lost her job as her marriage fell apart and was struggling to provide for her children. This led her to take the risk of becoming a surrogate; the money promised would be enough for a down payment on a home.
Traveling from Kyrgyzstan’s capital of Bishkek to Tbilisi in Georgia, Gulya became pregnant with twins in months. Other women were recruited from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Russia, and were told they could earn as much as $30,000.
Gulya began experiencing complications, and suspected gestational diabetes. But her coordinators at Kinderly stopped communicating with her, and no testing to confirm a diagnosis, nor any treatment, was given. When she went into labor in January of 2025, she was seriously ill.
“I already had a high fever, convulsions," she recalled. "I arrived [at the hospital] at about five centimetres dilated."
She was immediately taken for an emergency c-section, and was wheeled out as the next patient was brought in. She was then left to recover in a storage room.
The twins' parents didn't arrive, and Gulya said it was painful hearing the twins cry with no one to pick them up or hold them. After being discharged, she was sent back to her apartment; the $20,000 payment she was promised never came.
She received no postpartum care, and Gulya — along with dozens of other surrogates — were left abandoned when Kinderly declared bankruptcy.
She later discovered the twin girls she birthed were for a Chinese couple who also had purchased twin boys from another surrogate, born just months earlier.
“I worry about the girls' future,” she said through tears.
“This case is important because it showed that problems in the surrogacy sector cannot simply be viewed as contractual or financial disputes," Andriashvili said. “Systemic vulnerabilities and risks create real opportunities for exploitation of surrogate mothers and violations of their rights.”
Kinderly is far from the only scandal; other surrogacy networks have also been uncovered, with women from countries like Thailand and Nigeria lured to Europe with promises of large payments. However, these stories seem to vary based on the surrogate's ethnicity, and agencies have allegedly been dishonest about the compensation.
One woman, Grace, wanted to leave Nigeria, and the $6,000 payment to be a surrogate was seen as a way out. Yet when she arrived in Georgia, her contract had listed her compensation as $10,000; the agent who was working with her was going to keep the other $4,000. Grace also discovered that African women were paid less than Russians, Central Asians, Thais, and Filipinos. The explanation she received was that flights were more expensive and African women were harder to match.
“It's discrimination. [Our] uterus is the same,” Grace said.
She pursued surrogacy with another agency, and got pregnant after several attempts, with $26,000 promised. But when her baby was found to have genetic abnormalities, she was told to have an abortion; her contract refused payment for a miscarriage or abortion before 24 weeks, so she received just $2,000.
“They don't care about the surrogate. They just want you to be pregnant," she said.
In addition, trafficking rings have been uncovered, which take women to Europe with promises of payment and free housing. Instead, their passports are seized and they are locked in hotels, where they are given hormones to stimulate egg production. Then their eggs harvested and sold.
Helen Gibson, CEO of Surrogacy Concern, told the Sun international surrogacy needs to be abolished, especially as growing numbers of single men are purchasing surrogate-born babies from low-income women overseas.
"The majority of single men are looking abroad for a surrogate child – that’s something to be very, very concerned about. Overseas, women cannot change their mind and have no rights over the baby," she said. "It reduces women to incubators. A mother’s instincts are overridden by contracts and their bodies are controlled before and after the birth.”
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
Cassy Cooke
·Activism
Angeline Tan
·International
Cassy Cooke
·International
Bridget Sielicki
·International
Nancy Flanders
·Politics
Cassy Cooke
·Pop Culture
Cassy Cooke
·International
Cassy Cooke
·Politics
Cassy Cooke
·Politics
Cassy Cooke
·Analysis
Cassy Cooke
·