The Ukrainian clinic, BioTexCom Center for Human Reproduction, is offering 3 percent off from November 15 to November 26. A blurb on their website reads: “Hurry up to make your dream of a baby come true!” Meanwhile, sharing the offer on Twitter, the clinic wrote: “Hurry up and receive a discount. A unique proposal for our clients – 3 percent OFF EVERY PACKAGE”.
The options on offer include an all-inclusive “VIP surrogacy package” for €1,947 and a “Perfect Chance” IVF package for €447.
Commercial surrogacy, where the host mother is paid a fee for giving birth, is legal in Ukraine, Georgia and several US states.
India has the largest commercial surrogacy industry in the world, worth an estimated $6billion.
Altruistic surrogacy – where the mother receives no benefit – is legal in the UK.
While the new parents are allowed to pay “reasonable expenses” to the surrogate mother, it is currently illegal to profit from surrogacy in this country.
Concerned readers of BioEdge, a bioethics newsletter that shared the offer, hit out at the marketing tool, calling it “dehumanising”.
One reader, Polly wrote: “What a corrupt/dehumanising world we live in 2021.”
Meanwhile, Hannah Spanswick hit out at the “emotional pain” that the marketing might cause.
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“I just hope that there is such Karma and these business tycoons are subjected to the same level of emotional pain as those upon whom they inflict it.”
A third commenter, Joan, echoed Pauline, questioning why the practice was legal.
She said: “Why is it lawful to treat women and the children they bare as second rate citizens.
“As Pauline above identifies, this represents the height of corruption and cruelty. How low can we as humans go?”
The company, which is a big player in international surrogacy, uses varied platforms to market its services.
It is not only active on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube – in eight languages – but it also sponsors a baseball and a jiujitsu team, according to BioEdge.
The clinic also offers clients the option of getting a BioTexCom tattoo.
Express.co.uk has approached BioTexCom for comment.