Image copyright
AFP
Image caption
Babies born to Ukrainian surrogates are being cared for in a hotel
When Flavia Lavorino decided to have a baby through surrogacy, she looked Ukraine up on a map and calculated the distance.
Some 12,800km (8,000 miles) separate Buenos Aires, in Argentina, from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
“This was our last resort. We had stopped trying when we heard from a co-worker about trying for a baby through a gestational carrier in Ukraine, and we jumped at it,” says Flavia.
With José Pérez, her partner of 15 years, she had tried every possible fertility treatment. Flavia managed to get pregnant through a complex and painful procedure just once, but had a miscarriage.
“So, when we got confirmation that our surrogate in Ukraine was doing well and the pregnancy was going forward, we were over the moon,” says José.
Little could they predict that by the time the baby was born they would be stranded on the other side of the Atlantic due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Their son Manuel is now seven weeks old, but they have yet to meet him.
Image copyright
Courtesy Lavorino/Pérez
Image caption
José and Flavia travelled to Ukraine in July 2019, but in March 2020 they were unable to travel there
“This is the worst nightmare. Imagine waiting for so long and then having to wait even longer, with no clear idea of when we could be allowed to travel,” says José.
Ukraine, like many other countries, has closed its borders to international visitors in an effort to limit the spread of Covid-19, which has killed more 300,000 people worldwide. That has left dozens of babies born to Ukranian surrogates – and due to be collected by their intended parents from overseas – in limbo.
Argentina has also imposed a travel ban on all commercial flights until September as part of a strict coronavirus lockdown, making it impossible for the couple to plan a trip for the foreseeable future.
‘We need to be with him’
“The physical contact at this point is key, he needs to be with us and we need to be with him,” says the new father.
Flavia and José started their surrogacy journey in December 2018 and travelled to Kyiv four months later to create their embryos out of his sperm and her eggs.
Image caption
Demand for gestational carriers in Ukraine has soared in recent years
An embryo was then transferred into the womb of a gestational carrier, or “surrogate mother”, that they had contacted through a local clinic.
“We never met our surrogate, the clinic managed the relationship and we don’t really know much about the specifics. We do know that her fees were paid, of course,” says José.
Commercial surrogacy is legal in Ukraine, and a big business too – though there have been concerns about the level of oversight of the industry, which has expanded significantly in recent years.
The cost of an average assisted reproduction package ranges from $30,000 to $50,000 (£25,000 to £41,000), a fraction of what it costs in the US and other countries where commercial surrogacy is permitted.
For the Argentine couple, it meant asking for a loan as well as borrowing money from family. They won’t say how much they have spent but that “probably half of it went to the surrogate”.
“When we got confirmation that the transfer had been successful in late July, we started planning every single detail. We wanted to travel days before the due date, which was 10 April,” says Flavia. “In the meantime, we lived this pregnancy through the monthly scans the clinic was sending us,” adds José.
From optimism to despair
The couple had booked transatlantic flights for 2 April,