POST
PRODUCTION
SCRIPT
Foreign
Correspondent
2019
MOTHERLAND
30
mins 00 secs
©2019
ABC
Ultimo Centre
700
Harris Street Ultimo
NSW
2007 Australia
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Box 9994
Sydney
NSW
2001 Australia
Phone:
61 419 231 533
Precis
|
With international surrogacy now banned in Thailand
and India, a thriving industry has sprung up in Ukraine, attracting
heterosexual couples from around the world, including Australia. |
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But how much
do would-be parents really know about the business which delivers their baby? |
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In Motherland,
Europe correspondent Samantha Hawley goes behind the slick surrogacy websites
and glossy brochures to expose the industry’s dark underbelly. |
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In a 6-month
investigation, Foreign Correspondent meets those caught up in
Ukraine’s baby business and uncovers an industry with few rules and fewer
scruples. |
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The new
parent |
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When the
birth of her baby boy in Ukraine went badly, Kate couldn’t get him the urgent
medical help he needed. She realised she was out of her depth. Now she
worries about the long-term health effects on her baby. |
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The surrogate
mother |
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To earn a
small fee, she endured forced terminations, caesareans and callous treatment
at the hands of her agency. “Surrogate mothers…we’re just a flow of
incubators,” she says. |
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The abandoned
child |
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This is a
common story, says Ukraine’s Children’s Ombudsman, who has reports of at
least ten children left behind by the parents and agencies who ‘commissioned’
them. |
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“This is
an immoral business,” says the Ombudsman. “It does harm.” |
|
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The
businessman |
|
Motherland
monument, Kiev |
Music |
00:00 |
Hotel
Ukraine exterior |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY, Reporter:
In Ukraine, the baby business is booming. It’s the new go-to destination |
00:06 |
Pamela
and Yan with baby Quinn |
for commercial surrogacy. PAMELA HARDY: Where are your smiles? No yet, too young. |
00:12 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: While it
brings joy to some… |
00:18 |
Marina
Boyko |
MARINA BOYKO: No one gave
her a chance. |
00:20 |
Marina
visits Bridget |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: …there’s
heartache for others. We uncover an ugly trade. |
00:22 |
Kate
Hardy video cockroaches in room |
KATE SMITH: I think these
are cockroaches. They’re all over the
side. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: And
confront those responsible. |
00:32 |
Hawley
to Tochilovsky |
"How many children
that you oversee the birth of though, your company, are born with brain
damage?" |
00:38 |
Baby |
Music |
00:44 |
Title
over Motherland monument: |
|
00:49 |
Super: |
|
00:56 |
Hawley
on tram, Kiev. Super: |
|
01:03 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: I’ve been
reporting on international commercial surrogacy for over half a decade, and
revealed horrific cases of babies left behind in Thailand and India. |
01:10 |
Kiev
traffic/Motherland monument/Women with children |
Both countries have since
banned commercial surrogacy for foreigners, but now a thriving trade has
sprung up in Ukraine. |
01:23 |
Aerial.
Motherland monument |
Childless couples from
around the world are travelling here because they’re told it’s safe and
affordable. This is the new “motherland”. |
01:39 |
Hawley
on street to camera |
When couples come to Kiev
to engage in surrogacy they’ll get a sense of a bustling cosmopolitan
city. But in reality, Ukraine is one
of the poorest nations in Europe, with a third of the population living under
the poverty line and tens of thousands of children in institutional care. Not
to mention this is a nation at war. |
01:55 |
Kiev
skyline GVs |
Music |
02:20 |
Pamela
and Yan with baby Quinn |
|
02:29 |
|
PAMELA HARDY: We kind of read up and made sure we were
nowhere near a war zone. |
02:39 |
Pamela
and Yan |
We kept in touch with
people who had been here and visited and were having babies, so it wasn’t
something that concerned us.” |
02:44 |
Pamela
and Yan with baby Quinn |
Music |
02:51 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Irish born
Aussie, Pamela Hardy, survived cervical cancer, but the illness left her
unable to fall pregnant. She and her partner, Yan, who live in Sydney, explored
surrogacy in a number of countries before settling on Ukraine. Finally, they
have a daughter, Quinn, born here in Kiev, with the help of a local Ukrainian
woman. |
02:55 |
|
PAMELA HARDY: "Where’s your smiles, not yet, too
young!" I mean we’ve had a great
experience, |
03:22 |
Pamela
and Yan |
with our agency, with our
clinic, with the hospital, with our surrogate. |
03:28 |
Pamela
and Yan with baby Quinn |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Commercial surrogacy, where a woman is paid
to carry a child for someone else, is legal in Ukraine for heterosexual
married couples who can prove there is a medical reason for their
infertility. After that, the official
regulations stop. |
03:31 |
Baby
Quinn belches |
PAMELA HARDY
[laughing]: "Your big
moment." SAMANTHA HAWLEY: While there are many parents with positive
stories like Pamela and Yan, we’ve also uncovered a dark side to the
Ukrainian surrogacy industry. |
03:54 |
UK
Parliament building |
Music |
04:11 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Our investigation begins in the UK. |
04:20 |
Family
photos. Kate and Greg Smith |
Kate and Greg Smith – not
their real names – tried for 12 years to have a baby, but Kate’s diagnosis of
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome meant that nothing worked. KATE SMITH: It just felt like a huge loss and a
sadness. |
04:23 |
Kate
Smith |
It felt like a gap and a
hole in our life that we couldn’t fill no matter what we tried to do. |
04:42 |
Kate
and Greg Smith wedding photo |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The couple researched the option of
commercial |
04:47 |
Hawley
with Kat Smith |
surrogacy abroad but didn’t
think they could afford it. |
04:53 |
|
KATE SMITH: Something must have come up on my Google
feed for BioTexCom for a Ukrainian surrogacy clinic, which even though it was
very expensive, it kind of felt like it was doable. It could, in the future
we could do that, we could get it. |
04:57 |
BioTexCom
web pages |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: BioTexCom claims to be one of Ukraine’s
best and busiest surrogacy clinics, touting a 100% guarantee you’ll have a
baby. |
05:11 |
|
Music |
05:25 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The couple
used Greg’s sperm and a donor egg to impregnate a surrogate. BioTexCom made
it clear they didn’t want Kate to contact her surrogate directly, but the
women managed to keep in touch secretly via social media. |
05:29 |
Family
photos. Kate and Greg Smith |
KATE SMITH: I was able to just check in |
05:49 |
Kate
100% |
once every few weeks. I wasn’t pestering her, but once every few
weeks I would check in and she was lovely. |
05:54 |
BioTexCom
web pages |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: That’s how Kate found out her surrogate had
developed problems around the 25th week of her pregnancy. The clinic told
Kate nothing. |
06:01 |
Photos.
Baby Michael/Kate and Michael with baby |
Just 10 weeks later baby
Michael was born – a little prematurely – and Kate and Greg rushed to Kiev. |
06:11 |
Hospital
corridors |
When she first held the
baby, Kate knew something was terribly wrong.
KATE SMITH: My first initial thoughts were |
06:22 |
Kate
100% |
he was just very floppy,
very sleepy still, and it kind of triggered something in me that something
wasn’t right for him. |
06:29 |
Hospital
exterior |
Music |
06:36 |
Photos.
Michael and Kate with baby Michael |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Michael was discharged from hospital eight
days after birth, but Kate couldn’t leave Kiev until she had a passport for
him. She repeatedly asked for a specialist to see her baby, and after four
weeks an appointment was finally made. |
06:43 |
Kate
100% |
KATE SMITH: As soon as the neurologist saw him, she
said there’s something wrong and he needs some scanning of his brain. |
06:59 |
Photo.
Baby Michael |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The scan established Michael had suffered
brain damage |
07:05 |
Kate's
video. Hospital room |
and he was immediately
admitted to a public children’s hospital, where Kate filmed these pictures on
her phone. |
07:13 |
|
KATE SMITH: "This is the bed I’m meant to sleep
on and it’s obviously heavily stained, and they want me to put Mikey in here;
as you can see that’s blood.” |
07:20 |
Kate
100% |
I didn’t realise the health
care was that bad in Ukraine, because you’re only shown the clinic which is
pristine. You’re only shown private settings, which are pristine, but if you
have a baby out there with a neurological condition there is not a private
establishment that will take you, and so I wasn’t prepared for the state of
the state hospitals. |
07:35 |
Framed
photos. Kate and Greg with baby Michael |
Music |
07:55 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: It would be 14 weeks before Kate could get
her baby out of Ukraine and back to the UK.
She’s still haunted by how dire the public health system is in Ukraine
|
08:01 |
Kate's
video. Hospital room. Cockroaches |
KATE SMITH: "I think these are cockroaches.
They’re all over the side and this is where I’m meant to prepare the bottles.
There's no kettle so…Oh, Jesus." |
08:13 |
Framed
photos. Baby Michael |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: And she’s still not sure what the impact
will be on baby Michael’s development. |
08:32 |
Kiev
tram. Kiev GVs |
Music |
08:39 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: What happened to the Smith family is just
one of many troubling stories I’ve heard about the commercial surrogacy
industry here. |
08:47 |
Driving
to Zaporizhia |
I’m heading south east to
Zaporizhia to investigate another
disturbing case. This city is one the largest industrial centres in Ukraine;
home to a range of heavy metal industries and high levels of pollution. |
09:00 |
Hawley
walks to children's home |
I’m looking for an
abandoned child – a little girl who was born via commercial surrogacy, then
left behind by the parents who commissioned her birth. She has been living in
this children’s home since March this year. |
09:20 |
Hawley
greets Marina Boyko |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: "Hi Marina." Before that, she was in a
hospital where this woman, Marina Boyko, cared for her. |
09:36 |
Marina
and Hawley visit Bridget |
|
09:44 |
|
MARINA BOYKO: "Hello my little mouse. Hello, come to
me. Are you scared? SAMANTHA HAWLEY: This is Bridget. She is three years old. Her American
parents chose the name, but her Ukrainian carers call her Brizzi. MARINA BOYKO: No one gave her a chance. They said she’d
be blind and deaf, that she’d never be able to eat independently. |
09:47 |
Marina
100% |
Because of her premature
birth she was underdeveloped, with an extremely low body mass. After a while I noticed she reacted to
sound. |
10:12 |
Marina
plays with Bridget |
Then she fixed her eyes on
things. She could see. Then we realised she had a chance. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Born at 25 weeks and weighing just 850
grams, they won’t say exactly what’s wrong with Bridget other than that she
has a range of developmental delays. MARINA BOYKO: She understands when people speak to
her. She’s good at stuff. |
10:26 |
Marina
100% |
She knows the telephone. I
give it to her and she will say “hello” into it. She understands she is being
talked to. She’s learnt lots of things. |
11:05 |
Marina
plays with Bridget |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Marina visits the little girl as often as
she can on her days off. MARINA BOYKO: I realise she has this feeling she’s being
abandoned again. |
11:16 |
Marina
100% |
I explain to her: “Brizzi,
I haven’t abandoned you… I come to see you, I love you.” But she doesn’t see me all the time…that’s
why I come here. I can’t let her feel betrayed again. |
11:30 |
Marina
plays with Bridget |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: The head of the local child protection
agency gives me some background about Bridget. |
11:48 |
Natalia
Syvoraksha 100% |
NATALIA SYVORAKSHA: A hospital informed us that a baby had been
born to a woman who was forcefully displaced from Donetsk. She was a
surrogate mother and she had twins. One of the babies died due to ill health,
but a baby girl survived. |
12:00 |
GFX:
Stylised vision, new baby/Document overlay/BioTexCom GFX |
Music |
12:21 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Documents seen by Foreign Correspondent show that Bridget’s twin brother died at
birth and that she was very ill. Her
parents are US citizens who commissioned their babies through the surrogacy
agency, BioTexCom. When Bridget was five months old her parents sent a letter
authorising her life support be switched off. It said, 'She is in a
vegetative state and has no chance of becoming a normal person. Doctors
advise we stop any treatment so she can find peace. We will not take her to
America. This baby is incurable.' |
12:26 |
Bridge
with hospital worker and Marina |
Bridget
survived, but despite attempts by Ukrainian authorities to get advice about
her future from her American parents, it took nearly two years for a second
letter to be sent. That letter instructed that the baby be put
up for adoption, but it isn’t binding under Ukrainian law, leaving Bridget’s
status unclear. |
13:11 |
Natalia
Syvoraksha 100% |
NATALIA SYVORAKSHA: She is stateless, as I understand it. Her
parents are American. |
13:37 |
Bridget
in cot |
She was born here but not
recognised there and I can’t confirm she is Ukrainian either. |
13:43 |
Bridget
with Marina |
MARINA BOYKO: You can’t judge a child as soon as she’s
born. |
13:50 |
Marina
100% interview |
“We don’t like this child,
we wanted you to have a Hollywood smile at birth.” |
13:58 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: What would you say to the Americans if you
ever had the opportunity to meet them? MARINA BOYKO: I would say to them that they have an
amazing daughter. |
14:02 |
Bridget
with Marina |
I understand people who
leave their children behind because of the difficult situations they find
themselves in, |
14:13 |
Marina
100% |
but in this case, I don’t
understand it at all. |
14:23 |
Driving
to Pervomaisk |
Music |
14:29 |
Driving
to Pervomaisk continues |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: I’ve spoken to couples coming to Ukraine
for surrogacy, and I’m also keen to hear from the women at the heart of this
industry – the surrogate mothers. I’ve been able to get in touch with a woman
who worked as a surrogate mother for BioTexCom. We’re heading five hours east
of Kiev, towards the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, where the 2014 war
played out. Thousands of people
displaced by the conflict fled to border towns like this one, Pervomaisk.
They’re stuck here now, unable to return home. |
14:33 |
Hawley
to camera on street, Pervomaisk |
This is exactly the sort of
Ukrainian town the agencies are targeting to find their surrogates. It’s
remote and it’s poor. For the women here, the money they’d earn from carrying
someone else’s baby is very hard to resist and it’s life changing. |
15:26 |
Hawley
with surrogate mother in park |
This woman was recruited
here by BioTexCom and carried Kate Smith’s baby, Michael. She wishes to
remain anonymous because she fears recriminations from the surrogacy company.
She came here with her husband and baby son to escape bombing in the east,
which destroyed their home. They had no money and no access to any help. |
15:54 |
|
SURROGATE: So my husband said that he would sell his
kidney. I just stumbled on an ad on the internet. I started googling to find out what it was. A girl on this group replied and told me
what it was and how it was done. |
16:18 |
BioTexCom
exterior |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: She tells me she first worked for |
16:39 |
Surrogacy
clinic interiors. Super: |
BioTexCom as the surrogate
for a Spanish couple. She was impregnated with three embryos, but then forced
to terminate one so that she would only carry twins. This is to increase the
chance of a successful pregnancy – live births mean more money for BioTexCom. |
16:46 |
Hawley
with surrogate mother in park |
SURROGATE: I was given hormonal support all the time
and then they stopped. After about a week, I started to bleed. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Five months into the pregnancy, unable to
stop the bleeding, she was told she had to have an emergency caesarean and
the babies died. |
17:08 |
|
SURROGATE: I asked what I should do with them because
they were pretty big. They told me to cremate them. |
17:29 |
BioTexCom
signage/Company office exteriors |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: She eventually received the equivalent of
about $200. Still desperate for money, she put herself forward again with
BioTexCom and this time became Kate Smith’s surrogate. Again, she was
impregnated with three embryos and this time they terminated two, hoping she
would carry the remaining embryo to full term. |
17:39 |
Hawley
with surrogate mother in park |
SURROGATE: Kate said that they were happy there was
just one child because they only wanted one. I told the interpreter I had
three and I’d had a termination. She told me the parents didn’t need to know
that. |
18:04 |
GVs
Pervomaisk |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: She confirms what Kate Smith says – that
bleeding started at 25 weeks. After a
difficult pregnancy, she had another caesarean and baby Michael was taken
away immediately. |
18:19 |
Hawley
with surrogate mother in park |
SURROGATE: After seven days
they came to me and told me about the baby. They said the baby had problems. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: I asked her how she feels about BioTexCom. |
18:36 |
|
SURROGATE: Surrogate mothers, they’re just surrogates,
a flow of incubators, as they say. They don’t treat you as a human being,
they show no understanding. |
18:50 |
Motherland
monument, Kiev |
Music |
19:04 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: These stories about BioTexCom come as no
surprise to |
19:07 |
Hawley
walks with Antonov |
Sergii Antonov, a Kiev
based barrister who trained in Ukraine and Australia. SERGII ANTONOV: "We
have a very difficult legal system in Ukraine." SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Sergii specialises in family law and
surrogacy. |
19:11 |
Motherland
monument, Kiev |
Music |
19:26 |
Hawley
in office with Antonov looking at surrogacy contract |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: Kate Smith approached him for legal advice
about her BioTexCom contract, but he couldn’t help her because the company
isn’t registered in Ukraine, but offshore in the Seychelles. It’s not the
only surrogacy agency set up like this. |
19:29 |
Motherland
monument, Kiev |
SERGII ANTONOV: A lot of
agencies are phantoms, they do not exist. |
19:48 |
Antonov
100% |
They are not registered in
Ukraine. They have many impressive websites and ads. They’re given a contract
saying the services are provided in Ukraine, but the service organiser isn’t
Ukrainian. When there are any legal issues, Ukrainian lawyers can’t help. |
19:57 |
Marina
with Bridget |
SERGII ANTONOV: Meanwhile, caught up in her own
bureaucratic nightmare, the fate of little Bridget is still uncertain. And
the clock is ticking. If she isn’t adopted, she will be transferred at age
seven to another institution where there’s no rehabilitation. |
20:18 |
Marina
100% |
MARINA BOYKO: Here, I’m close. Once she’s seven they’ll move her to a home
for children with disabilities. I won’t be able to come to see her like I do
now. I don’t know what effect that will have on her. The more stress, the
more she regresses. |
20:46 |
Marina
with Bridget |
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: At age 18, she’ll be sent to an old people’s
home. Marina Boyko is desperate to find her an alternative. |
21:04 |
Hawley
calls Matthew Etynre |
Foreign
Correspondent
has managed to track down Bridget’s parents in America. MATTHEW ETYNRE:
"Hello?" SAMANTHA HAWLEY: "Oh, hello, is this Mathew
Etynre?" MATTHEW ETYNRE: "Yes,
it is." SAMANTHA HAWLEY: "Oh,
hello. My name's Samantha Hawley. I’m from the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation…" Mathew Etynre and Irmgard
Pagan live in California. |
21:17 |
|
"We’ve been in Ukraine
and we’ve seen your daughter Bridget." MATTHEW ETYNRE: "Yes." SAMANTHA HAWLEY: "And we’re doing a story on Bridget
and how she was left in Ukraine by yourself, and I’m just ringing to see
whether or not you want to be part of the program? |
21:44 |
|
We’ve filmed with Bridget
and the nurse that has been caring for her for the past three years…" Mr Etynre doesn’t deny
being Bridget’s father. "So these are…" MATTHEW ETYNRE: "Okay,
I wish I had a pen, yeah I have to talk to my wife." SAMANTHA HAWLEY: "Yes." |
22:10 |
|
But he’s not keen to tell
me their side of the story or take responsibility for Bridget. MATTHEW ETYNRE: "I
don’t really want to talk to you right now about it, I need to talk to my
wife." |
22:31 |
Driving
to BioTexCom headquarters |
Music |
22:45 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: I’ve come
to BioTexCom headquarters. I’m surprised my request for an interview with the
owner, Albert Tochilovsky, has been granted. |
22:52 |
Aerial.
BioTexCom headquarters |
The company is in downtown
Kiev on a huge purpose-built site.
It’s a one stop baby making shop. |
23:04 |
BioTexCom
headquarters exteriors |
In May last year,
Tochilovsky |
23:18 |
Hawley
into BioTexCom office |
was briefly placed under
house arrest amid allegations of child trafficking, document forgery and tax avoidance. But to date, he hasn’t been brought before
the courts. ANASTASIA: "This is Albert." SAMANTHA HAWLEY:
"Hello, so nice to meet you." ANASTASIA: "This is Denis; he’s our legal
advisor." SAMANTHA HAWLEY: "Oh, thank you, nice to meet you, too." We were promised a sit down
interview, |
23:21 |
Hawley
interviews Tochilovsky |
but then we’re told he’s
only got 10 minutes… [To Tochilovsky]: Do you
know Matthew Etynre? He was a client of yours who left a baby behind in
Zaporizhia. |
23:43 |
|
ALBERT TOCHILOVSKY: He’s is not our client. This is a lie. This is a 100 percent
lie. We can check our database, right
now. We’ve never had such a client here. 100 percent. |
23:54 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: We have
seen documentation that he was your client, an American client. He had twins,
one died, he left the second behind. |
24:08 |
|
ALBERT TOCHILOVSKY: Etynre? We never had such client. Maybe
someone has issued paperwork in our name, but that is impossible. We can call
in our head physician… |
24:16 |
|
This is the representative
of my American-British-Australian department. Tell me about Etynre. Which Etynre has abandoned the child? ANASTASIA: I don’t
remember. I don’t remember any such client of ours, and of course I
appreciate that we have a lot of clients, but believe me such a situation we
would have remembered. SAMANTHA HAWLEY: At this point, Mr Tochilovsky offers to do
an investigation into the case of the Etynres and little Bridget. |
24:31 |
|
He claims that it’s
probably the fault of another agency pretending to be BioTexCom. |
25:00 |
|
[To Tochilovsky]: How many cases have you overseen where
babies have been born with brain damage? |
25:07 |
|
And now we get a telling
admission… ALBERT TOCHILOVSKY: This is a difficult question. There were
some cases of brain damage. I am not that interested in the parents, to tell
the truth. I’m more concerned about our surrogates not suffering through
difficult deliveries. |
25:13 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: But Albert’s concern for his surrogates
doesn’t stack up with the stories we’ve heard. And his claims other agencies are trying to
sabotage his company’s reputation are unconvincing. |
25:39 |
Ext.
National Children's Council of Ukraine. Hawley visits children's ombudsman
Kuleba |
There is one Ukrainian
official keeping a very close eye on surrogacy agencies offering their
services to foreign couples. |
25:56 |
Kuleba
interview |
Nikolai Kuleba is the
Children’s Ombudsman and he’s extremely disturbed by how many agencies
behave. [to Kuleba]: What’s your
opinion of the surrogacy agencies that are operating here in Ukraine. |
26:07 |
Kuleba
100% |
NIKOLAI KULEBA: This is an immoral business. It does harm.
These companies don’t care who they provide their services to, why and how
they are provided, who they are providing a child to. They are more
interested in the income. |
26:23 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: And then he reveals Bridget isn’t the only
child who’s been abandoned. |
26:40 |
|
NIKOLAI KULEBA: I can name up to ten cases, and these are
the ones I am aware of. But I can assume there are instances that we don’t
know about. |
26:47 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: He’s lobbying the newly elected President
of Ukraine to introduce tougher legislation to better protect surrogate
mothers and children. |
27:01 |
Kate
with baby Michael |
Back in the UK, baby
Michael has celebrated his first birthday, and Kate and Greg are focussed on
giving him the best possible start in life. |
27:12 |
|
His doctors can’t say yet
how badly he’ll be affected, but so far, he’s doing really well. KATE SMITH: I don’t regret it, because I just have the
most beautiful baby boy. |
27:27 |
Kate
100% |
So I don’t regret it at
all, and he is amazing, and to us, perfect in every single way, but it was a
reckless decision to make. It was a reckless, reckless decision to make,
because we felt informed when we weren’t. |
27:41 |
Marina
walks with Bridget |
Music |
27:54 |
|
SAMANTHA HAWLEY: For
Bridget, the family love that is helping Michael to recover, is missing. And
she has just four years before the treatment she’s receiving stops
altogether. Marina Boyko is convinced that Bridget needs just one thing to
make her future bright. |
28:02 |
|
MARINA BOYKO: To find a family that will love her. That
is the most important thing. |
28:25 |
Physio
works with Bridget |
Whether it’s here or in
another country, it makes no difference. It’s important they love her, that
she feels their love. |
28:38 |
Marina
100% |
Personally, for me? To me
she is the best, most beautiful, most joyous, most intelligent child that can
ever exist. I don’t know how to put it any other way. I’m going to cry now.
She is the best. Please don’t film me.
I don’t know what to say. I simply love her. I can’t say any more. |
28:48 |
Credit
start over photo of Bridget. See below |
|
29:36 |
Out
point after credits |
|
|
|
|
|
Reporter
Samantha Hawley
Producer
Bronwen Reed
Ukraine
Research
Fedir Sydoruk
Sophie
Kochmar
Camera
Timothy Stevens
Editors
Garth Thomas
Nikki Stevens
Graphics
Andres Gomez-Isaza
Executive
Producer
Matthew Carney
Foreign
Correspondent
abc.net.au/foreign
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© 2019 Australian Broadcasting Corporation