Infertility

" is the question Khachapuridze says she asks herself when interviewing potential surrogate mothers.

Punctuality can also count as an indicator of reliability, she said.

"Is she late for interviews?

Does she call back to check progress?

"Under the clinic’s rules, women are accepted for genetic surrogacy only if they are married and after several long discussions with the surrogate parents.

One person involved in the surrogacy must be the biological parent.

"There is less likelihood that the mother will end up keeping the baby, since her husband would not want to bring up another man’s child," Khachapuridze explained.

Georgian law does not prohibit a genetic surrogate from keeping her child, and the Surrogate Motherhood Center’s contract with surrogate mothers does not state that the mother must give up the child.

One clause, however, asserts that if the surrogate chooses to keep the baby, the donor father can only pay her 25 percent of the lowest salary in Georgia.

Khachapuridze insists that the clause prevents potential blackmail.

"But we have never had such a case," she added.

In regulating surrogacy, MP Gegelashvili sees financial issues as relatively minor.

"The problem is when the procedure is a danger to the health of the fetus," he said in reference to four fetal deaths which occurred during a multiple fetal pregnancy procedure.

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