Somewhere in Kiev, John Levi could be born at any time. The son of Brazilian couple Priscila and João Paulo Bogucki, the baby was born in the womb of a Ukrainian woman, who is now waiting in a bomb shelter for the delivery, scheduled for the 23rd.
Due to its favorable laws and affordable prices, Ukraine is highly sought after by foreigners seeking the surrogacy process — the so-called surrogacy, which is prohibited in several countries, including Brazil. At the beginning of the war, on February 24, two Brazilian couples who had gone to pick up their babies in Kiev ended up being held back by curfews, until they managed to escape on the 2nd.
Now, other families awaiting the birth of their children will have to enter the country to pick them up amid the conflict. According to Priscila Bogucki, 39, this was the only alternative presented by the clinic.
“When the war happened, she [a gestante] was already in Kiev, in the final stretch of pregnancy. You couldn’t leave there, “she says.” And leaving Kiev with a newborn is a lot of responsibility, at the clinic they said they can’t deliver to anyone, just the parents. “
Priscila and João Paulo, who live in Vitória, Espírito Santo, bought tickets to travel to Poland on the 26th. The plan is to cross the border and reach Lviv, a city that has been a stopping point for most refugees. From there, the couple will try to go to the capital, probably by train.
“This is the logistics at the moment, but everything can change”, says Priscila. “We were scared, but it’s our dream that’s there, we can’t wait. The access to Kiev will close for good. It will be difficult, but it will be worth it.” According to her, the Brazilian embassy, which currently works in Lviv, will help them.
The Itamaraty informed the sheet which has so far helped five Brazilian families who left Ukraine with their newborn babies and that two others are expected to do the same by the end of March. According to the ministry, some requirements for birth registration and issuance of travel documents to newborns were relaxed, “on an exceptional basis and given the seriousness of the situation”.
“The Brazilian consular office in Lviv has organized regular convoys to Poland, through which Brazilians and family members have managed to leave the conflict zone,” he informed.
Prior to resorting to surrogacy, Priscila and her husband had made four attempts at IVF, the first in 2017. In March last year, they traveled to Ukraine to begin treatment.
The couple has been receiving updates on the pregnancy through the clinic, which says the expectant mother is in a building with other women in the same situation, monitored by a doctor. “It seems that we went from heaven to hell. We had the joy of pregnancy, of reaching the final stretch. The feeling is already that this final stretch takes a long time. Now, with the war, it seems that time does not pass.”
In Minas Gerais, a couple who started treatment shortly before the start of the conflict had already resigned themselves to having to wait longer than expected. J., who gave an interview on condition that she not be identified, sent three embryos to Ukraine about two months ago.
She was already selecting the pregnant woman for the contract, but the process was suspended. The couple’s embryos, two girls and a boy, are in a bunker, kept under refrigeration, with generators to ensure there is no shortage of power.
With the intensification of the bombing of Kiev and the obstetric hospitals dedicated to the care of the war wounded, it has not been easy to obtain information, he says. According to Bruna Alves, director of the Brazilian operation of the agency hired by them, the plan is to transport the embryos in the future to another country, where the treatment could be safely resumed – she cites Georgia as a good option.
Of the 150 couples with a lawsuit underway in Ukraine by Tammuz Family, 35 are Brazilian. “We’ve had a lot of requests from parents to remove the embryos from Ukraine. But now it’s not feasible. It’s a very sensitive material, it can’t be transported in any way.”
For now, the clinic is managing to change the nitrogen used for conservation weekly, as required. “For the moment they’re safe. But it’s hard to know what it’s going to be like in a few days.”
Pregnant women hired by Tammuz have already been taken to other countries. The difficulty, in this case, is the registration of babies, since the Ukrainian registry offices are closed, and the legislation changes from one country to another. “But that can be solved”, says Alves. “Thank God we don’t have any babies in the bunker.”
Couples find on the internet Ukrainians who carried their babies to offer help
“Arthur has been taken. Troops have landed in our area. We are awaiting the attack.”
The news was sent last Wednesday (16) via text messages by Maria, a 34-year-old Ukrainian, to Brazilian Ludimila Molotievschi, 38. Her husband, Artur, was summoned to defend the city of Horishni Plavni, in the center country, from the Russian offensive.
Ludimila writes to Maria daily and says she considers her a godmother to her children – a two-year-old girl and a three-month-old baby. It was the Ukrainian woman who carried the two children in her womb, through surrogacy treatment.
After the start of the conflict, Ludimila and five other mothers who underwent the same treatment created a group to offer help to Ukrainians who gave birth to their babies.
As the clinics do not usually disclose the contact details of these women to the families, they had to go after some of them, starting from the name, city and date of birth, mentioned in the contract.
“The difficulty is that they were all very common names, and there they don’t use the social networks that we use here,” says Ludimila. “I already had contact with Maria because I found her on Instagram longer ago. But, by investigating, we managed to find the others.”
According to her, some families sent money to help with expenses and others offered their homes in Brazil as a shelter. “They don’t ask for much, we offer. We try to help at least emotionally. Most want to stay in Ukraine because their husbands can’t leave,” says Ludimila.
The Brazilian, who before resorting to a surrogate pregnancy tried five fertilizations and lost two babies, went to Ukraine in January to look for her youngest, Rafael. The eldest daughter was named Maria.
