Europe | Thursday’s children

The war has thrown Ukraine’s surrogacy industry into crisis

But there are not many other places couples can go

KYIV, UKRAINE -- MARCH 20, 2022: Nursing staff Irina tends to a baby boy in a makeshift nursery underground in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 20, 2022. More than a dozen Ukranian-born surrogate babies along with the surrogacy center's nursing staff are living underground in a shelter after Russian bombardment landed nearly 200 meters away from their above-ground nursery early March. The Russia-Ukraine war has complicated the evacuation of these babies. (MARCUS YAM / LOS ANGELES TIMES)

Sep 8th 2022

When missiles began falling on Ukraine in February one woman from the centre of the country faced an especially perilous evacuation. She was 30 weeks pregnant—with someone else’s baby. The 31-year-old, who goes by the name Tamara for fear of abuse, was put on a bus to Poland by Delivering Dreams, the surrogacy agency she was working through. Her legs swelled up during the long journey. But Tamara made it to safety and in April gave birth to a healthy baby, who is now with its intended parents in America.

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Thursday’s children”