This is reported by Medvestnik with reference to the clinics of assisted reproductive technologies.
The reduction in demand for the service was affected by the ban on the use of donor eggs to create an embryo. The law on this issue came into force in December last year. Now, only the genetic material of a married couple or a single girl who wants to become a mother can be used to obtain embryos. Families with severe infertility can no longer create an embryo, the newspaper notes.
The same patients for whom embryos were previously prepared are now urgently exporting them abroad after the entry into force of this law, the newspaper notes.
The clinic "Mac ECO" told the publication that since the beginning of the year, only one patient has been undergoing a surrogacy program, whereas a year ago there were six such patients. The Association of Surrogate Mothers and Oocyte Donors noted that in three months of this year, only four couples applied to the organization. A year earlier, there were 16 such appeals.
The agency of surrogacy "Sparta" predicts that if the ban on partial donation in the country continues, then by the end of the year the demand for such programs will fall by another third.
The clinics note that according to statistics, donor oocytes are used by three out of four married couples who apply to the clinic under the surrogacy program.
The law on surrogacy was adopted after a scandal involving the use of these services for foreigners, including same-sex couples. Now only married couples can use this service in Russia, as well as single Russians who, for medical reasons, cannot independently carry a child.