This week we learned about the case of a couple of Russian origin who have had no more and no less than 20 children in a year through surrogacy. The protagonists of this story are 23-year-old Kristina Öztürk and her husband, Galip, who dreamed of starting a big family. In March 2020 they had their first child through surrogacy and, after the good experience and the joy of having a baby, they decided to continue with this practice, according to ‘Mirror’.
For each of the pregnancies the couple paid $ 10,900. Taking into account that they have had 20 babies through surrogacy, the total is $ 218,000, about 180,000 euros to change . To this must be added the cost of supporting so many children. The couple say they spend between $ 5,000 and $ 6,000 a week: They have 16 babysitters and spend 20 large packs of diapers a week.
The couple themselves have presented their children on social networks , with the name and date of birth of each of them:
- Victoria – 11.11.2014
- Mustafa – 10.03.2020
- Mariam – 17.04.2020
- Please – 19.04.2020
- Alisa – 19.04.2020
- Hasan – 29.05.2020
- Judi – 29.05.2020
- Harper – 17.06.2020
- Anna – 28.07.2020
- Izabella – 01.08.2020
- Ismail – 20.08.2020
- Mehmet – 31.08.2020
- Ahmet – 27.09.2020
- Lokman – 10.11.2020
- Olivia – 16.01.2021
For now, the couple assures that they will not resort to surrogacy again in the future, although they do not rule out having more children naturally. Still, this will only happen in the long run because her 20 children require her full attention for now.
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Surrogacy in the world
As a result of this case, it is worth reviewing the situation of surrogacy at the global level .
In countries such as the United Kingdom or Thailand, the surrogate mother is recognized as the legal mother. On the contrary, in India paternity is granted to biological parents, so that a newborn born in India with biological parents from Portugal or France, for example, becomes a stateless person who must apply for citizenship of one of these countries.
The countries where surrogacy is most widely practiced are Russia, Ukraine, the United States, India, and Thailand . In Russia and Ukraine, surrogacy is allowed commercially, so that the pregnant woman can receive money for the service provided.
In the US, legalized compensation exists in New York, California and Washington .