Is Surrogacy Legal in Georgia?

One of the few European nations where married couples can lawfully use surrogacy is Georgia. Surrogacy programs have been legal in Georgia for a long time. It was legalized in 1992, along with gamete donation. However, it is only available to straight-married or de facto couples. With these established laws for surrogacy, Georgia offers intended parents safe and legitimate surrogacy options. Georgia only legally allows gestational surrogacy. This means that the intended parents do not have to worry about any genetic connection between the surrogate and the baby. They also enforce their laws so that the surrogate does not have any legal claim to the child after the delivery. They also allow gamete donation, which is the donation of sperm and eggs. These donors are carefully selected after a thorough screening. This is important to ensure that the intended parents achieve their surrogacy dream.

Laws Surrounding Surrogacy in Georgia

In Georgia, the law only allows heterosexual and married couples to have a child through surrogacy. Gay surrogacy is not included and hence has no protection by the law. Some of the other legalities surrounding surrogacy in Georgia include:

• There is provision for both commercial as well as altruistic surrogacy. Each situation will have different contracts and reviews to ensure that the parties involved will get the results that they desire.
• The intended parents will gain full custody upon birth, thereby becoming the real parents. They will have all the legal rights and responsibilities that this entails. Consequently, the surrogate will have no rights and responsibilities, and will not be recognized as the mother of the child.
• Egg and sperm donation is legally allowed in Georgia if the couple needs it. The identity of the donor can be disclosed to the intended parents if they desire. They can even meet the donors in person.
• The birth certificate will be issued within 24 hours of the birth of the child.
• The names of the intended parents will be on the birth certificate.
• The intended parents do not need any signed consent forms from the surrogate to be named as the legal parents of the child.

These are the basic laws that govern surrogacy in Georgia. These laws make it possible for couples to have a successful surrogacy journey.

What is the process of becoming a surrogate mother in Georgia?

There are certain qualifications or criteria that a woman has to meet to become a surrogate mother in Georgia. The first criterion is that the woman must be between the ages of 21-41 to become eligible to be a surrogate mother. They must also meet some set health standards before they can be considered and successfully matched with intended parents. The woman must also have had at least one child before. The surrogate mothers are also properly compensated for their efforts, usually by the intended parents or an agency in charge of the process. They are also catered for throughout the pregnancy by the same parties. 

What are the legal requirements for intended parents to undertake surrogacy in Georgia? 

Intended parents should be informed of the rules they must abide by while pursuing surrogacy in Georgia. A written agreement between the intended parents and the surrogate, medical records for the intended parents and the surrogate, and a court decision granting the intended parents parental rights are some of the paperwork requirements for surrogacy in Georgia. Depending on the particulars, the surrogacy procedure might take anywhere from a few weeks to many months to complete. It is vital to remember that during the surrogacy process, there may be legal complications, such as disagreements over parental responsibilities or problems with the surrogate’s health insurance coverage. To guarantee they adhere to all legal requirements and prevent any potential legal complications, it is advised that intended parents work with an expert surrogacy agency or attorney or meditour agency.

What are the recent changes in the surrogacy laws in Georgia?

Recently, Georgian authorities have proposed a ban on surrogacy services for foreigners. This decision will bring an end to the booming industry into which a lot of Georgian women have been pushed due to economic difficulties. Georgian Prime Minister Iraki Garibashvli announced on June 12, 2023, that in the future, only Georgian citizens will be legally allowed to make use of surrogacy services in Georgia. The prime minister cited several reasons which include:

• Safety concerns for both the surrogate mothers and children
• The increased risks of child trafficking
• Fears that the babies eventually end up with same-sex couples; this is in contravention of Georgian law

The Georgian health minister, in a separate briefing, focused on the bad and unethical practices that had arisen due to the lax surrogacy regulation in Georgia. Some of the reasons provided by the health minister Zurab Azarashvli include:

• Organ trafficking
• Child selling
• Inability to properly track the destinations of the children

The minister specified that by 2024, foreigners will be banned from using both in vitro fertilization and surrogacy services in Georgia. He disclosed that a relevant bill would be sent to the country’s parliament in that regard. Georgia had recently become a prime location for receiving the surrogacy service globally. Economic problems played a key factor in the provision of that service for a fee by many Georgian women, while relatively cheap prices of the service made the country very attractive to foreigners. In 2020, Georgian officials claimed that foreigners accounted for about 98 percent of commercial surrogacy clients. 

Recent Concerns in Surrogacy

Recent bans on surrogacy services in previous hotspots like India and Russia, with Russia stating the same reasons as Georgia, redirected more foreign customers to Georgia. Also contributing was the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which had been another leading surrogacy provider. In Georgia, more clinics and agencies offer services, with ads to recruit surrogate mothers. More of these ads are placed online, linking clinics to obscure agencies mainly looking for women from 22-38 years of age. 

Some agencies also try to lure women with different perks like mental health services free of charge, and special privacy protection, among other incentives. Some agencies even offer to relocate these mothers to other countries like Albania for the duration of the pregnancy. The ever-growing unregulated business had raised concerns over the rights of surrogate mothers and children gotten through surrogacy. Georgia had explored banning commercial surrogacy in the past. In 2020, the state put the first limitations in place, restricting the services to heterosexual couples who have been married or have otherwise cohabited for at least a year.

The recently voiced concerns were the main factor that led to the latest decision to fully outlaw the service for foreigners. According to a report by Imedi TV, a government mouthpiece, they alleged that the abuse of surrogate mothers had led to the urgent need for the regulation of the service. They reported that obscure agencies offering surrogacy services mistreated women, including forcing early birth to deny the women full payments, leading to severe mental and physical health complications. The authorities also plan to restrict the advertisement placements for surrogacy services, along with the restrictions.