Criminal Legal Protection of Surrogacy

Currently, one of the most urgent medical diseases that couples face all over the world is the problem of infertility, to solve which states are actively introducing assisted reproductive technologies into the healthcare sector. Among such technologies, surrogate motherhood raises many questions of both moral and ethical and legal nature. In particular, the problem of criminal law protection of assisted reproductive technology has not been resolved to date. The current criminal legislation does not contain direct norms regulating surrogate motherhood, however, in law enforcement practice there are cases of unjustified qualification of the use of surrogate motherhood as a criminal act provided for in Article 127.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, i.e. as human trafficking. The author, by analyzing the elements of the composition of the specified crime, concludes that such a qualification of surrogacy is unlawful. At the same time, there is reasonable doubt about the need to consolidate a separate corpus delicti in the form of a violation of the legislation on the procedure for organizing surrogacy. However, the emerging judicial and law enforcement practice in this area proves the need for detailed regulation of the legal regulation of the scope of assisted reproductive technologies.

criminal law protection, assisted reproductive technologies, surrogacy, human trafficking, crime, contract