Olga and Daniel, a German couple seeking surrogacy services due to its illegality in Germany, turned to Georgia after Russian surrogacy contracts were banned for foreigners in 2022. In recent years, Georgia has become a hub for international surrogacy, with over 3,000 surrogate mothers registered and more than 5,000 births since 2012. The number of children born through surrogacy rose sharply to around 1,100 in 2023 from about 300 in 2021 post-Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Surrogate mothers like Anastasia earn between €18,000 and €28,000 for their services, while the total cost for intended parents ranges from €45,000 to €55,000.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Three years ago, Olga, 40, and Daniel (both names changed to protect the their identities) from Hamburg decided to employ the services of a surrogate mother.
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names → change → mother
But surrogacy is illegal in Germany, and people whose children are born through surrogacy must pursue the legal recognition of their parenthood in German courts.
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children → bear → courts
Olga is a German citizen, but was born and raised in Russia.
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Olga → bear → Russia
That's why the couple wanted to learn more about the surrogacy market in Russia.
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couple → want → Russia
But foreign customers have been banned from signing Russian surrogacy contracts since 2022.
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customers → ban → 2022
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many international agencies that liaise between surrogates and intended parents moved to Georgia.
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that → liaise → Georgia
So, Olga and Daniel traveled there.
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Olga → travel → ?
In the past years, Georgia, a mountainous country in the Caucasus region, has become a sort of surrogacy hub, with women traveling from all over the world to work as surrogates.
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Georgia → become → surrogates
According to Georgia's Public Service Development Agency, over 3,000 surrogate mothers were registered in 2023 across the country.
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mothers → accord → country
Since 2012, they've given birth to over 5,000 children.
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they → give → children
And since the beginning of Russia's war in Ukraine, the number of children born to surrogate mothers has skyrocketed.
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number → bear → mothers
While an estimated 300 surrogate mothers gave birth in 2021, that number leapt to over 1,100 by 2023.
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number → estimate → 2023
Anastasia, 39, is a surrogate mother from Russia working in Georgia.
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Anastasia → work → Georgia
She has a grown daughter and has already seen through three surrogate pregnancies.
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She → have → pregnancies
Her first was in 2021, which she used to finance a property down payment.
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she → use → payment
Anastasia says she completed her first two surrogacies in Russia, and her third — for a Japanese couple, brokered through the branch office of a Moscow clinic — in Georgia.
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third → say → Georgia
Like many surrogate mothers, she went home to Russia after the embryo was implanted, and returned to Georgia when she was 22 weeks pregnant.
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she → go → Georgia
"I live in an apartment with another surrogate mother who carried twins to term.
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who → live → term
This program was the easiest and most practical one for me, but maybe I just got lucky with the right clinic," Anastasia told DW.
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Anastasia → get → DW
"Other women who gave birth in Georgia told me they had difficulties.
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they → give → difficulties
For example, after giving birth, they had to wait a long time before they were paid."
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they → give → birth
She says she's ready to become a surrogate mother again.
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she → say → ?
Estimates vary, but there are about 19 clinics that offer such services across Georgia.
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that → vary → Georgia
And at around €45,000 ($50,400) to €55,000, the average service costs for agencies in Tbilisi or Batumi are only about a third of what agencies in other countries charge.
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agencies → charge → countries
Several surrogate mothers who gave birth in Georgian clinics told DW that their average salary was between €18,000 and €28,000, with premiums added for birthing twins, for example.
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premiums → give → example
Surrogate mothers from Ukraine in demand
Daniel and Olga told DW that they spent months looking for surrogacy agency in Georgia.
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they → tell → Georgia
"Pretty soon, we had access to a list of women from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Georgia, and were given a detailed description of the process, along with the contact information of lawyers who could help take care of the formalities," they recount.
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they → have → formalities
"We were a little concerned that not every agency could give clear answers about the health of some of the surrogate mothers."
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agency → give → mothers
Both work in the medical field, and Olga says perhaps some of their questions about the physical health and possible genetic disorders might have been too probing.
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some → work → health
"We picked a 30-year-old woman from Ukraine who had already been a surrogate mother once for a European couple," she says.
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she → pick → couple
The Russian-Georgian agency set up half-hour long Zoom call, "but that hardly seemed enough to make a final decision," Olga adds.
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Olga → set → decision
In the spring of 2024, the married couple traveled to Georgia's capital to meet Elena (her name has been changed to protect her identity).
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name → travel → identity
Following a long discussion, the agency had seemed reluctant when they agreed to bring her to Tbilisi for the meeting.
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they → follow → meeting
Elena made a good first impression on the couple from Hamburg, showing them pictures of her children and telling them she wanted to use the money she earned to renovate her apartment.
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she → make → apartment
"They had initially told us that the surrogate would spent the entire pregnancy living in a rented apartment in Tbilisi," Olga and Daniel tell DW.
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Olga → tell → DW
"But then we found out that Elena was going back home for a few months after the embryo was implanted, back to Ukraine, where there's war.
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embryo → find → Ukraine
"
Human rights experts criticize legislation
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experts → criticize → legislation
Georgian laws have a weak spot, the human rights lawyer Nino Bogveradze tells DW: They only regulate the relationship between the surrogate mothers, the intended parents, and the clinics, but they do not consider the roles that agencies play.
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agencies → have → that
In Georgia, surrogate mothers have limited rights.
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mothers → have → rights
Most concerns related to their pregnancy, medical care or payment are not regulated by national law but in contracts between the involved parties.
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concerns → relate → parties
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
