Since 2022, Georgia’s surrogacy industry has expanded rapidly, with oversubscribed clinics increasingly recruiting women from Central Asia through social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. New research by the University of Oxford’s Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) provides insight into the hidden systems of emotional control that help sustain Georgia’s growing transnational surrogacy market.
Published in Mobilities, the study by Oxford anthropologist Dr. Polina Vlasenko comes as Georgia’s surrogacy laws remain under scrutiny. A draft law introduced in 2023 that sought to restrict commercial surrogacy to Georgian citizens and residents was rejected.
The research examines the role of “intermediaries,” including agents, clinic coordinators, and former surrogates, who operate at the center of the industry. While they help women enter the surrogacy market by arranging contracts, travel, finances, and accommodation, the study argues that they also exercise significant influence over surrogates’ daily lives, social interactions, and compliance with clinical and legal requirements.
According to the research, these intermediaries often occupy a space between medical practice, legal structures, and informal management systems. The study suggests that gaps in regulation and limited state oversight allow them to operate in ethical and legal grey areas, sometimes affecting the wellbeing and autonomy of migrant surrogate women.
The findings are based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Kazakhstan and Georgia between 2023 and 2024, including interviews with more than 100 surrogates, egg donors, medical staff, agents, and intended parents.
One of the main findings is that social media has become a key recruitment tool. Many women interviewed said they entered surrogacy after seeing advertisements on Instagram and TikTok posted by clinics, agencies, or former surrogates. Some former surrogates later became recruiters themselves, using their own experiences to encourage others to join the industry.
Sholpan, a surrogate who later worked as an agent, described the financial appeal of the process. “I can see that surrogacy is a gold mine for Georgia, but it is also very profitable for surrogates. Everyone comes here because they have a problem. Nobody comes just for fun. Back home, 300 dollars is an average monthly salary that feeds an entire family; here, I could have it all to myself, saving a final lump sum for an apartment. They also take care of the housing, tickets, tests, everything.”
However, the study also highlights the ways in which financial dependence can create conditions of control. According to the research, many surrogates are required to remain in Georgia throughout their pregnancies, often living in shared apartments provided by clinics. Some reported that intermediaries encouraged women to monitor and report each other’s behavior, creating an atmosphere of surveillance and mistrust.
The research also documents cases where housing and financial support were linked to recruitment activities. After her sixth embryo transfer, which was unpaid because the clinic director described it as her “last chance,” Sholpan eventually became pregnant. She later said that the clinic director connected continued housing support with her work recruiting other women: “He told me: ‘bring other women too’. If you work well for my clinic, I’ll provide you with housing.”
Some interviewees described serious concerns about their treatment. Aliya, another surrogate, said: “I almost died, and they treat me like cattle.”
Clinic representatives, however, described managing relationships with surrogates as one of the most difficult aspects of their work. Lisa, a clinic manager, said: “They do not like how they are treated. They want to be treated like queens or VIPs. The most difficult part is behaving well with surrogates, not snapping at them.”
The study also shows how personal experiences are used to build trust during recruitment. Sholpan explained how she reassured potential candidates by sharing her own story: “I tell them I’ve done the program myself, and nothing bad happened. To sell organs or traffic you, they’d need someone young and beautiful, not a forty-year-old woman of ninety kilos like me! You can even video call me. I’ll show you my apartment. When they hear from someone who’s been through it, they start to trust.”
Dr. Polina Vlasenko said the growth of Georgia’s surrogacy sector has been driven by increasing international demand and a shrinking domestic labor pool.
“Georgia’s surrogacy hub operates through systems in which intermediaries do more than connect surrogates to clinics. They govern emotions, discipline conduct, and supervise communal living. Recognizing the central role of these people makes visible the emotional control sustaining the industry and the entanglement of care and control in cross-border surrogacy,” she said.
The research raises questions about how international surrogacy markets should be regulated and what protections should be available to migrant surrogate workers operating in complex legal and ethical environments. It forms part of the Reproductive Mobilities project at COMPAS and the University of Oxford’s School of Anthropology, which examines how changing social and medical conditions have shaped responses to involuntary childlessness in Central Asia over the past two decades.
About COMPAS
The Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) is a research centre based within the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography at the University of Oxford. Since 2003, COMPAS has established an international reputation for original research and policy relevance. It undertakes multi-disciplinary research, publication, teaching, and user engagement activities with a broad set of academic and non-academic users worldwide, and houses long-standing initiatives The Global Exchange on Migration and Diversity, and The Migration Observatory.
About the University of Oxford
Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the tenth year running, and number 3 in the QS World Rankings 2024. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.
Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.
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Source: Oxford University
