The Spanish left, which we have seen fervently censure surrogacy following the news of Ana Obregón’s recent maternity, tolerates and even applauds -however- the Family Code that the Cuban dictatorship approved on September 25 and that allows surrogacy. Of course, with the surname of “solidarity”. Although, as we will see and as expected, once again it is the communist regime that benefits throughout the entire process. Sex tourism has given way to reproductive tourism.
The aforementioned legal package, which was sold to the world as an opening to the new family models, actually opened the door to a very important source of income. Given that Cuba is one of the most repressive, racist and homophobic countries in the world, it was obvious that only the possibility that Castroism had found a new business model could explain why it suddenly accepted in one sitting that the people of the same sex (those who have imprisoned, persecuted and tortured for decades) can marry and even adopt children from a surrogate.
This regulatory change invited us to think from the beginning that there were hidden intentions behind this social advance. The regime continues to persecute, imprison and torture opponents, and of course continues to restrict the rights and freedoms of all of its people. Parents cannot choose the education they want for their children, for example. However, the dictatorship allows Cuban women to gestate children that are given up for adoption to men and women all over the world, because It has not set a nationality limit some.
This gesture, which from different sectors of the Spanish left has been marked as “historical”, it does not fit with the current Cuba and -of course- neither with the one of the last 63 years. No one can believe that this regime, which has expelled gays from society and taken them to concentration camps under the banner of the Cuban revolution, is now concerned about their right to start a family. What the dictatorship has seen is a market niche. And they are interested in homosexuals insofar as they are potential leads.
The vulnerability of Cuban women
With the new Code, the future expectations of Cuban women continue to be reduced to the exploitation of their bodies, one way or another. Now that sex tourism -which the island used as a claim- has declined, reproductive tourism has become a new way to survive.
The exploitation of these women is not given by the fact that they donate their gestational capacity to another person who cannot have children by their own means -as established by surrogacy in principle-, if not due to the circumstances in which it occurs the process.
To begin with, because of the vulnerability of their situation. Is the poverty in which they live Cubans (in this case Cuban women) and the impossibility of earning a living through their work, which often leads them to seek other alternatives in order to survive.
It is true that the Cuban Family Code speaks of “solidarity gestation”for which -it is assumed- that the pregnant woman should not receive any economic benefit, but his maintenance and expenses must be paid. That, as things are on the island, is already a lot. We talk about decent living conditions -housing, food, hygiene and health- for her and the family she lives with, for nine months or more (since the process starts).
reproductive tourism
On the other hand, we can say that the communist regime exploits them because it benefits from the reproductive tourism that it has promoted since the approval of surrogacy. Point 3 of article 130 of the Family Code says that “any type of remuneration is prohibited or, gift or other benefit”. You cannot (at least through legal channels) give money to the pregnant woman. But the dictatorship does cash from the start of the process.
Since a foreigner sets foot On the island, the regime begins to enter. It doesn’t matter if he does it to consume prostitution, with the intention of having the vacation of his life, or looking for a baby through surrogate pregnancy. It should be remembered at this point that Cuban public health is actually non-existent and the prices that must be paid for any health service are absolutely prohibitive. We can therefore imagine how the costs will be to carry out the control of these pregnancies and -of course- guarantee the most optimal conditions for childbirth.
Here we should also mention the benefit that the regime obtains from the regularization of the baby’s papers. Point 4 of the aforementioned article already specifies that “in all cases judicial authorization is required“. In short, the Castro system has used the necessary tools to make each part of the process profitable, as it has been doing for more than six decades. The “solidarity gestation” is, but with the regime, which once again takes its toll of altruism and the need of Cuban women, but on this they have no nothing to say Pam and Irenes Montero on duty.
The Ukrainian cake
Ukraine is one of the few countries on the European continent where surrogacy is legal. Thousands of babies ‘on request’ -we could say- are born there every year. Reason why it has been called ‘the womb of Europe’. Every year dozens of Spanish couples go there who -fundamentally- cannot have a child on their own.
This was evident with the beginning of the invasion ordered by Vladimir Putin, on February 24, 2022. Some of the little ones that were then in the wombs of pregnant mothers were born inside a bunker. they got hundreds of these contracts at riskgiven the impossibility of traveling and -therefore- of taking the children out, as was the case with the pandemic.
It is estimated that more than 2,000 babies are born each year by surrogacy in Ukraine, and most of them are children of foreign parents who pay about 45.000 euros throughout the procedure. A business that has been greatly affected by the war and that will be difficult to recover in the short term. Although it is believed that in the long run it could even be promoted, given the situation of poverty -and loneliness, due to the casualties at the front- in which many women will remain.
In any case, for the moment the cake has not been distributed and it seems that Cuba would like fill the gap left by Ukraine in this market. For the Caribbean country, it is time to bet on new financing channels. In Europe, he would compete only against Georgiawhere only heterosexual couples are allowed to hire a surrogate, and Greecewhich also admits surrogate motherhood for women under 53 who request it alone.
In Africa, there is no market; in Asia, very little; and In the US, prices soar at more than double what it cost in the Ukraine. With the possibility that couples formed by people of the same sex can expand the family by taking advantage of this type of reproduction, Cuba overtakes its direct competitors on the right and ensures a good piece of the cake, that of the surrogate bellies low cost for gay couples.