Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller (2020) s03e06 Episode Script
Black Market Babies
1
♪
♪
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
So, we're about an hour away
from the border,
trying to make it to Ukraine.
And we're sort of in
a race against time
trying to get there
before curfew.
And we don't know exactly what
the situation is at the border,
you know, obviously we're
heading towards a war zone.
So they're all
a little bit on edge.
(explosions, gunfire)
NEWSCASTER:
Moscow has now unleashed
Europe's largest ground conflict
since World War II.
NEWS CORRESPONDENT:
We are facing
an unprecedented act
of aggression.
(boom)
(siren)
MARIANA: This isn't my first
trip into dangerous territory.
(gunshot)
For nearly two decades,
I've pursued and exposed
the world's most profitable
black markets.
But I've never encountered
any product quite like this.
(baby cooing)
The commercial
surrogacy industry
brings in over
$4 billion a year.
Yet, no one knows exactly how
many babies are changing hands
around the world.
The industry is outlawed
in much of Asia and Europe.
But not here,
in war-torn Ukraine.
(explosion)
(scream)
NEWSCASTER: A basement serving
as a bomb shelter nursery
for 21 surrogate babies.
(siren)
MARIANA: I was shocked to
discover that Ukraine
is one of the world's
top destinations
for commercial surrogacy.
And that many of these
infants trapped by war
are American babies.
(horn honking)
This story sent me on a journey
to expose the dark side
of this global market,
where surrogates are being
imprisoned, raped,
and even left to die,
manipulated by shadowy players,
who profit from the wombs
of vulnerable women.
♪
MARIANA: So I just got word that
there was a baby who was born
today in Ukraine,
a surrogate baby.
Project Dynamo is there
trying to get this baby,
rescue it,
and bring it to safety.
BRYAN STERN: Okay, Dynamo!
MARIANA: Project Dynamo is
a U.S.-based organization
that has been operating
in this war zone.
BRYAN: You can probably hear
the air raid sirens,
'cause they're bombing on
the other side of the city.
MARIANA: Their mission:
to rescue trapped civilians,
including surrogates
and newborns.
I'm due to meet them just
across the border in Ukraine.
Oh, wow. So these trucks here,
these are all trucks
that are waiting
to cross the border.
Trucks full of equipment,
military gear, fuel,
anything that can assist
with the war.
♪
(siren)
(siren)
MARIANA: Mariana van Zeller.
MARIANA: Yes, Lviv.
OFFICER: Okay.
♪
MARIANA: Medyka is the busiest
border crossing
between Poland and Ukraine.
BRYAN: This is a border
you can walk across.
So, this is on the target list.
The Russians really want
to bomb right here.
They don't because
they're afraid of NATO.
MARIANA: Thank you!
BRYAN: But at some point,
there's going to be
some Russian artillery guy and
he's going to push a button,
and one day they're going
to hit a border.
MARIANA: Once I'm through,
I finally meet my contact.
Bryan Stern, the cofounder
of Project Dynamo.
It is crazy to me
what you're doing here.
I mean, you're an American
citizen, right?
Former Navy, and you're,
you find yourself in Ukraine
rescuing surrogate
families and babies.
BRYAN: We've been doing
operations pretty much every day
since February 24th,
since the day of the war.
MARIANA: Bryan is uniquely
qualified for this work.
He's a combat veteran
and a former
Navy intelligence officer.
BRYAN: Everyone's
boarding the buses.
We're bringing people
across the border.
People need help, and being able
to do rescue operations
in weird places with
Russian bad guys everywhere
and artillery and missiles,
being able to do that
is a skill,
and we're very good at this.
MARIANA: Since Project Dynamo's
arrival in Ukraine,
they've rescued
thousands of people,
including
68 surrogate-born babies.
BRYAN: The first one that we did
was premature twin boys.
They were on ventilators,
feeding tubes, and incubators,
and the whole bit.
As we picked them up,
we were taking artillery fire
from the Russians
at both hospitals.
It was early days in the war.
MARIANA: Oh, my god!
Did you ever think, did you
think when you started this
that the surrogacy industry
would be so big
and that you'd have to be
a part of so many rescues?
BRYAN: Honestly, I didn't really
know anything about surrogacy
when I came here.
MARIANA: Neither did I.
♪
So before I set off
into Ukraine,
I track down
a Ukrainian surrogate,
who is seeking refuge in Poland.
What did you do
when the war broke out?
(siren)
(explosions, screaming)
MARIANA: More than 7 million
Ukrainians have fled the country
since the Russian invasion.
Most are children and women,
including surrogates, like Olya.
Was it your decision to move,
or were you asked to move
because you were
carrying this baby?
(speaking Ukrainian)
KATE: The second option,
because she was asked to, yes.
MARIANA: Mm-hmm.
KATE: The biological parents
were really insistent
that they have to be moved.
MARIANA: Olya is
four months pregnant.
She's carrying a child
for a couple from Seattle,
who turned to surrogacy
after nine miscarriages.
Because Olya signed a contract,
she's not entirely
in control of her body,
and this reproductive
arrangement is far from unique.
Today, more than a quarter
of American women
struggle with
impaired fertility,
and media outlets are
sounding the alarm.
NEWSCASTER:
Humans across the globe
are becoming increasingly
less fertile.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Birth rates
in America have fallen
to the lowest levels
in about 90 years.
MARIANA: Science now
offers solutions,
and surrogacy is one of them,
as seen in advertisements
that highlight the marketplace
in Ukraine.
MARIANA: Commercial surrogacy
allows an infertile couple
to implant their embryo into
a healthy third-party surrogate
for an agreed-upon price.
In the United States, that can
cost as much as $200,000.
While in Ukraine,
Europe's poorest country,
it's as little as $30,000.
I think one of the concerns
that people have with surrogacy
is this idea of the
commercialization of the womb.
Do you feel like your womb,
your body is being used
in a, as a product?
MARIANA: And can I ask you,
why did you become
a surrogate mother?
MARIANA: When Olya delivers this
baby, she'll be paid $24,000.
That's six times
her annual salary.
A life-changing sum for her.
But I discovered that Olya
must give birth in Ukraine.
She can't stay in Poland.
BRYAN: In a lot of countries,
surrogacy is against the law.
So, if a surrogate
gives birth in Poland,
because they don't
recognize surrogacy,
that baby belongs to her.
MARIANA: If Olya then
tries to give the baby
to its American parents,
she could be charged
with child trafficking
and the baby becomes
a ward of the Polish state.
So as crazy as it seems
and it sounds,
the only way for them
to actually give birth
to these surrogate babies
is here, being here
BRYAN: Correct.
MARIANA:
in a war zone in Ukraine.
That's why Bryan and I
are at the border,
waiting for an American couple
that's traveled 6,000 miles
from their home in San Francisco
to rescue their newborn son,
Vincent,
who was born to a Ukrainian
surrogate last night
inside a war zone.
♪
BRYAN: People get killed
out here every single day.
I mean, just happens.
They're not safe
until they're safe.
MARIANA: Bryan and his team
quickly move us
to an undisclosed safehouse
outside Ukraine's
westernmost city, Lviv.
Where I finally get
an opportunity
to speak with
baby Vincent's parents.
Did you guys always want to have
kids? Was that always the plan?
GIO GALERA: Absolutely.
CANDACE GALERA:
Yeah. Definitely.
GIO: You know, I mean, obviously
there's the family element
that are like, "Gio,
it's your turn, you know,
you're, everyone's getting
to have families now,
what's going on, you know?"
And that's kind of the Asian
family thing, I guess.
MARIANA: It's a Portuguese
family thing, too.
GIO: Yeah, Portuguese,
too, right?
But in our hearts, too,
we both wanted children.
MARIANA: Gio and Candace
have known each other
since childhood, but it wasn't
until their early thirties
that they reconnected,
fell in love, and got married.
When Candace was diagnosed
with uterine cancer,
the couple turned to surrogacy
to start their family.
It was too expensive
in the U.S.,
so they traveled to Ukraine
for the procedure,
and were told to return
in about nine months.
(explosion)
(siren)
But then, the Russians attacked.
NEWSCASTER: Across Ukraine,
the invasion set off
a desperate rush
to take shelter
NEWSCASTER (overlapping):
So the biggest attack
on one nation against another.
CANDACE: We didn't go to work
for like a month,
just straight CNN, day, night.
It was, it was scary. It was
definitely, definitely scary.
GIO: Right.
MARIANA: With their baby
in harm's way,
they knew they had no choice
but to come rescue him.
GIO: We wanted
to nurture someone.
We wanted to bring forth a life
and give all the gifts.
CANDACE: Give love, yeah.
GIO: All the gifts that we have.
You know, like, I want
to share that with them.
And I want to see what comes
out of this, you know?
And I want to
MARIANA: You're making me cry.
I've met you just
for a few hours,
and I can already tell you guys
are going to be amazing parents.
GIO: Thank you.
Thank you so much.
MARIANA: It's true.
All the love, I can,
I can see and I can feel it.
GIO: Yeah. I mean, from the
moment he was a little peanut,
we could't get him
off our mind.
The whole concept, you know?
MARIANA: It is the best thing
in the world.
GIO: Amen. Thank you.
MARIANA: But rescuing Vincent
isn't guaranteed.
(air raid siren)
BRYAN:
There is no embassy to call.
It's not here.
If things go wrong,
it's our problem to deal with.
So, we are very much on our own.
BRYAN: We're rolling
to get baby Vincent.
So the surrogate needs to be
put on ice for a little bit.
And we'll be baby-on-board,
maybe an hour.
MARIANA: Less than 24 hours ago,
baby Vincent was born.
Now, Bryan Stern and his medical
team are on an urgent mission
to get him out of
the war-torn country.
BRYAN: I'm always
kind of nervous,
because things go wrong.
Things just happen.
MARIANA: The plan is for Bryan
to pick up Vincent
from the hospital,
then deliver him to his parents,
who are heading towards a safer
meeting point outside the city.
BRYAN: I don't really
take a deep breath
until I get them out of Ukraine
as soon as we can.
♪
♪
Alright, rock and roll.
♪
(woman speaking Ukrainian)
(phone chimes)
GIO: Oh, man. Hold on.
She's telling us now that
the baby must be given
to our hands only.
MARIANA: The hospital refuses
to release the baby
to anyone other than
his biological parents.
But for Bryan and
the Project Dynamo team,
that's not the only
hurdle they face
in getting Vincent
out of the country.
BRYAN: So, the problem is, is
that the passports say one thing
and the marriage certificate
says something else, correct?
I underI understand.
Their paperwork is (bleep).
And it'll be Candace's
maiden name, probably,
if I had to guess.
And therefore they're not sure
if they can issue
a birth certificate
in the right names.
Ah, (bleep).
This whole thing is a mess!
MARIANA: These roadblocks exist
for good reason.
(babies crying)
Ukraine produces some 2,000
surrogate births each year.
It's critical that
they make sure
these babies
don't get misplaced,
or worse, trafficked.
(siren)
Project Dynamo is fighting
the good fight,
helping to unite
desperate families.
But the chaos of war could
have a profound effect.
(explosion)
Pushing the surrogacy market
into less regulated countries.
NEWSCASTER: There's been
a storm of controversy
over the Indian
government's move
to restrict child surrogacy.
It considers it
a "rent-a-womb" industry
that exploits
impoverished young women.
MARIANA: India was once
the top destination
for commercial surrogacy before
the country banned it in 2015,
when it discovered women were
being abused and exploited,
and an untold number of babies
were sold onto the black market.
Thousands of miles
south of Ukraine,
I've heard these horror stories
are taking place
in one of the industry's
newest frontiers.
♪
♪
♪
MARIANA: If I'm going to
investigate the criminal corners
of this marketplace,
I need to speak with people
who know criminals.
♪
That's why my Kenyan contacts
put me in touch
with these two women.
Do you think that the parents,
the foreign parents,
know that this is happening?
Do they care?
MARIANA: Mary is a former
prostitute who now advocates
on behalf of
sex workers' rights.
Her friend,
who we'll call Michelle,
does not want to be identified,
because she recruits Kenyan
women into commercial surrogacy.
She says it offers an escape
from extreme poverty
if it's done right.
MARIANA: Right.
MARIANA: Unregulated surrogacy
markets are expanding
around the world, especially in
countries like Mexico, Colombia,
and right here in Kenya.
(baby cries)
Mary and Michelle tell me
it can be a very dirty business,
one that operates
in Nairobi's shadows.
Do you hear a lot
of these stories
of women being exploited?
Of them not being paid
what they were told,
violation of their rights?
MARY: Yes. It is right.
MARIANA: Really?
You hear this a lot?
They share horrific stories
of surrogates dying
during childbirth,
others held captive for months.
And all of it for the product
growing in their womb.
The entire process costs tens
of thousands of U.S. dollars.
But many surrogates get paid
as little as 500 bucks.
MARIANA: Who's keeping
the rest of the money?
Because we know that
it's much more money.
MARIANA: The agent is
keeping the money.
These agents are the linchpins
in an underworld supply chain
that connects foreign couples
from Europe and
the United States
with Kenyan doctors
and, of course, surrogates.
MARIANA: Surrogacy isn't
technically illegal in Kenya.
In fact, it's openly advertised.
But there aren't any
specific laws regulating it.
That means couples must hire
costly lawyers
to navigate the country's
child trafficking laws.
Which, ironically,
ends up fueling
cheaper black market operators
like Michelle.
And I'm going to go
around this way?
MICHELLE: Yeah.
MARIANA: Straight.
Tonight, she plans to recruit
another surrogate
from inside a Nairobi slum.
(horn honking)
This way, yeah?
MARY: Yeah, yeah.
MARIANA: Snatchers?
MARY: Yeah.
(horns honking)
(horn honking)
MARIANA: Far away from
Nairobi's tourist districts,
Michelle offers to show me
how she recruits surrogates.
So where are we going?
MARIANA: Why do you think
she'd be a good person
to be a surrogate?
MARIANA: Oh, wow.
It turns out Michelle is a pimp,
and the women she recruits
are prostitutes.
A fact she doesn't mention
to the foreign couples.
Do you think there is a stigma
attached to sex workers
that would make parents perhaps
not want to have sex workers
as their surrogate mothers?
MARIANA: Michelle claims
she's doing this
to empower the country's
desperate women.
Here. Okay. So, Michelle,
do you go out?
Okay, we'll be here waiting.
MICHELLE: Alright.
(car door shuts)
♪
MARIANA: She went inside.
Here, can you see if
you can hear her?
You can hear?
MARY: No.
MARIANA: Okay, here she is.
Can you hear her now?
MARY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Oh, wow.
MARIANA: Wow. So she's
calling it "my child?"
MARY: Yes. "My child, my child."
MARIANA: Oh, so she, she's,
she's into the idea?
(Mary sighs)
MARIANA: Do you feel good?
MARIANA: Oh, so you want
to go there now?
MICHELLE: Yeah.
MARIANA: In some black markets,
it's hard to tell
the good guys from the bad.
I can't yet decide if I think
Michelle is actually
helping Kenyan women
or just helping herself.
She claims she's liberating them
from the dangers of sex work,
but she may be
steering them towards
an equally dangerous
undertaking.
♪
The following morning,
Mary takes me to meet
a former surrogate
called Ashley,
who experienced
these dangers firsthand.
MARIANA: About a year ago,
Ashley was approached
by a surrogacy agent,
a well-dressed Kenyan woman
in a fancy car
who began grooming Ashley.
MARIANA: Once Ashley agreed
to carry a child,
the agent took her
to a fertility clinic,
where they implanted the embryo
and promised to pay her
just over 800 U.S. dollars.
Did you want to know any
information about the parents?
MARIANA: Ashley was given
a strict set of rules.
She couldn't tell anyone
what she was doing,
she couldn't contact anyone.
She could never, ever
leave the apartment.
MARIANA: Did you think it was
strange that they didn't let you
get out of the house?
MARIANA: Ashley's rent
was paid for,
and every week,
someone brought her food.
MARIANA: Oh, so you wouldn't
be able to see who it was.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Even though
they told you the rules
was you couldn't tell anyone,
why didn't you?
MARIANA: What happened next
almost did kill Ashley.
Her body began cramping
and bleeding.
She was going into labor.
Ashley was rushed
to the hospital.
Did they know
you were a surrogate
or did they think you were
just a pregnant mother?
MARIANA: And you never
saw the baby?
You don't remember delivering?
(baby crying)
(heavy breathing)
♪
♪
MARIANA: And then you woke up,
and suddenly you were in
a different hospital?
MARIANA: The agent who'd
recruited Ashley was gone.
MARIANA: So they didn't actually
pay you the whole money?
MARIANA: Did you ever think
of going to the police
and telling them
what happened to you?
MARIANA: In this murky industry,
with no clear regulations,
a vulnerable woman like Ashley
had little security.
She never signed a contract.
All she had was the agent's
cell phone number.
(phone ringing)
AUTOMATED VOICE: We're sorry.
Your call cannot be
completed as dialed.
Please check the number
and try again.
(beeping)
♪
MARIANA: He tells me
to call him Peter.
He isn't the agent
who cheated Ashley,
but he plays the same role
in the surrogacy supply chain.
Why do you use the word corrupt?
MARIANA: But do you think that's
a good thing or a bad thing?
♪
MARIANA: Wow.
So you recruit
young female workers?
PETER: Young female workers.
MARIANA: Peter runs a legal
employment agency
that places Kenyan
domestic workers
in households throughout
the Middle East.
But that's not his only
source of income.
MARIANA: I do.
Peter is simultaneously managing
his employment agency
and a black market
surrogacy operation.
MARIANA: Do you make more money
from sending these women abroad?
MARIANA: Even though surrogacy
isn't illegal in Kenya,
doing it lawfully
can be challenging
and cost-prohibitive,
and that's where Peter's
operation comes into play.
As an underworld agent,
Peter is the powerful liaison
between infertile
foreign couples
and some of Kenya's
most desperate women.
And he claims to have
used these women
to successfully deliver babies
to clients from Russia, Turkey,
the Philippines,
and, yes, the United States.
For his part in the operation,
he tells me he receives
somewhere between
$20,000 and $40,000.
Of that money that you receive,
how much of that money goes
to the surrogate mother,
and how much of that money
goes to you?
MARIANA:
I mean, they have a point.
PETER: It's a give and take.
And they have a point.
MARIANA: Yeah.
PETER: Yeah.
MARIANA: Because you are in
the perfect position
to exploit these girls, right?
MARIANA: And so do you?
MARIANA: Peter tries
to persuade me
that he's an honest broker
in a dishonest business.
MARIANA: He tells me
he's not the only one
running surrogates
in Nairobi's shadows.
MARIANA: And why do you think
that is? Why Kenya?
MARIANA: We head to
the safe house?
PETER: Alright.
MARIANA: Okay.
♪
MARIANA: Peter keeps
his pregnant surrogates
in what he calls a safe house
far outside of town.
Are the surrogate mothers in
the safe house the whole time?
♪
MARIANA: Are we close?
♪
♪
MARIANA: One of the things
that Peter told us
was that he prefers if
the women stay in the house
and don't go out for big walks,
or don't
MARIANA: He doesn't like it.
I managed to convince Peter
to wait outside
while I interview one of
his surrogates, Sylvie.
So, I know they're outside.
I just want to make sure
that you feel comfortable
and you don't feel pressured
to do anything.
SYLVIE:
I'm not pressured at all.
MARIANA: Do you ever
leave the safe house
or you're here all the time?
SYLVIE: I don't leave the house.
MARIANA: Ever?
SYLVIE: I only go upstairs
where we hang our clothes.
MARIANA: Uh-huh.
SYLVIE: For my exercise,
I do it here.
I walk here.
MARIANA: And so,
you never, ever leave?
SYLVIE: I don't leave.
♪
MARIANA: Sylvie tells me
she's a single mother
who was desperately searching
for housekeeping work overseas
until Peter convinced her
that surrogacy
would be much more lucrative.
SYLVIE: My kids don't know.
My family don't know.
My mom doesn't know.
Nobody knows.
MARIANA: Mm-hmm.
In fact, Sylvie's family
believes
she is working
in the Middle East.
That's why Peter's
safe house is located
on the outskirts of the city,
far away from anyone who
might recognize Sylvie.
Can I ask you how much money
you're making?
Mmm.
MARIANA: Can I just ask you
if it's more than $5,000?
SYLVIE: You know,
it's less than.
MARIANA:
So it's less than $5,000?
SYLVIE: Yeah.
MARIANA: That may not
sound like much,
but it's a significant amount
of money in a country
where a third of all Kenyans
live on less than $2 a day.
And Sylvie tells me it will
change her children's lives
for the better.
MARIANA: That's what he said.
That's how he said it.
♪
MARIANA: I came to this
safe house expecting to meet
a deliberately misinformed
surrogate under Peter's control,
but Sylvie knows that
she's likely participating
in a black market.
One with no guarantees,
and potentially life-threatening
risks for her and the baby.
Were you concerned about that?
Did you ask those questions?
♪
MARIANA: It seems
everyone I've met
is taking calculated risks
for the money.
♪
(horn honking)
But there's still one missing
link in Peter's supply chain.
So we've been trying to get
a doctor to talk to us,
because one of the things about
the surrogacy industry
is that without, without
doctors, it really doesn't work.
And we've been hitting
brick wall after brick wall.
They stand to lose a lot,
including their jobs,
if they talk about this.
But Peter has convinced
his doctor to meet us today.
I've heard he's super nervous,
but I'm hoping that we can
convince him to talk.
(phone chimes)
Okay. He says he's here.
I think that's him.
♪
♪
MARIANA: Okay, Doctor, what do
you think would happen to you
if you were caught?
MARIANA: This is the doctor
that's the linchpin
in Peter's
black market operation.
While Peter oversees
the foreign couples,
the surrogate recruitment,
and the safe houses,
it all means nothing without
a medical professional
who can supervise the pregnancy.
And because the doctor works at
one of Nairobi's best
public hospitals,
he has the perfect cover,
delivering illegal
surrogate babies
without raising suspicion.
Doc, how did you get involved
in the surrogacy business?
MARIANA: And so what convinced
you to do it then?
MARIANA: Sub-Saharan Africa
has the world's highest
maternal mortality rate.
A Kenyan woman is 15 times more
likely to die during childbirth
than a woman in
the United States.
The doctor tells me
he personally knows of Kenyans
who have died delivering babies
for foreign couples.
But because this is illegal,
their families never find out
what happened to them.
Are you getting emotional
talking about this?
♪
MARIANA: How many other doctors
are out here in Kenya
doing this?
MARIANA: A dozen?
MARIANA: The doctor tells me
he's delivered surrogate babies
for Australians, Canadians,
and Americans,
sometimes five babies a month;
so many that he's lost count.
So why did you agree
to talk to us?
♪
MARIANA: Sorry, there's
a car that parked
right there with, uh,
smoke windows
that looks very suspicious.
(beep)
Hey, guys, can you hear me
on walkie?
Hi.
Hey, any idea who that car is
that parked right there?
MARIANA:
Nobody came out of the car.
If it's, could be
undercover cops,
it could be a lot of things.
We send someone in my team
to investigate.
Okay, she's walking.
♪
♪
Let's see what she says.
MARIANA: They're definitely
checking us out, 100%.
I don't know what you
want to do, move, move or
Hey, guys, we're not
feeling comfortable,
and Doctor is definitely not
feeling comfortable
with this location right now,
so we're going to move.
I've been in enough
of these situations
where I know when
we're being watched.
♪
(horn honking)
♪
Are they coming?
MARIANA: The doctor is
too frightened to continue,
but he gives me a lead
on where to head next.
He says he only
delivers the babies,
he doesn't create
and implant the embryos.
That has to happen inside
of one of the six
state-of-the-art IVF clinics.
We know there's an existence
of this black market,
and this black market doesn't
exist without an IVF clinic.
It just doesn't.
MARIANA: Dr. Joshua Noreh is
the Medical Director
at the Nairobi IVF Center,
the biggest fertility clinic
in the country,
where they perform up to 100
embryo implantations
every month.
But how can you be sure
that the surrogate mothers
that you're implanting
aren't in fact going to be
exploited later on?
MARIANA: Does that bother you,
knowing that possibly
you're a part, a very important
part of this process?
MARIANA: Dr. Noreh assures me
that his clinic
takes great pains
to vet their surrogates
and weed out criminal operators.
But because the IVF process
is highly specialized,
it's clear that at least
one of Kenya's six clinics
is implanting embryos
into the country's
black market surrogates.
What I still don't understand
is how the babies
are getting out of the country.
In Kenya, custody can
only be transferred
to the biological parents
through the court system.
But that can take months,
even years,
which sends
frightened foreigners
into the arms of the underworld.
If it is completely illegal,
then how are the parents
being able
to take the kids
out of the country?
MARIANA:
So the paperwork is forged?
MICHELLE: Yes.
MARIANA: But the doctor knows
the baby didn't come from
MICHELLE: Yes.
MARIANA: Oh, you pay the doctor?
MICHELLE: Yes.
MARIANA: I came to Kenya
in search of a black market
that operates
in Nairobi's shadows.
Instead, I uncovered
an open secret.
One that takes place
in broad daylight.
This lucrative supply chain
connects couples
with savvy agents who
manipulate poor surrogates
and pay off
some ambitious doctors,
inside the city's
best hospitals.
With so many illicit steps
needed to procure a baby,
it's hard to believe
that couples
from places like
Australia and America
are kept completely in the dark.
Do you think they know that?
MARIANA:
You tell them, look, what you're
doing is actually illegal?
MARIANA: And what do they say?
MARIANA: They do it?
(children shouting playfully)
(sobbing)
NEWSCASTER: And once again,
in the center of Europe,
innocent women, men
and children are dying.
MARIANA: By the fourth month
of the war in Ukraine,
nearly 9,000 civilian casualties
were documented
across the country.
(bell tolling)
This grim statistic wasn't going
to deter one American couple.
GIO: Whether it takes a war
or, you know, whatever,
for us to go through
to get, to get this,
that's nothing to us, no.
It's all worth it.
MARIANA: Unlike Kenya,
there are specific laws
regulating commercial surrogacy
in Ukraine.
These laws are intended to
make sure that every child
is delivered to its rightful
biological parents.
Gio and Candace were initially
having difficulty
proving their relationship
to their son.
But Bryan Stern
and Project Dynamo
were able to clear up
the confusion.
So Candace and Gio just met
the surrogate mother's
mother and son.
The surrogate mother is inside
with the baby,
and this is the moment of
the big, the big meeting.
You know, they're very,
very anxious and nervous
for this moment.
BRYAN: You guys ready?
CANDACE: Yeah.
BRYAN: You guys ready?
GIO: Yes, I'm ready.
BRYAN: You ready,
you want to meet him?
MARIANA: (gasps) Oh, my god!
That's the surrogate mother!
♪
After years of frustration
trying to conceive,
a 6,000-mile journey,
and a full-scale war,
Gio and Candace are finally
going to meet their son.
GIO: Oh, he's come,
he's coming right now.
BRYAN: He comes.
MARIANA: So this is it!
Oh, wow, the baby's coming out.
BRYAN: Baby Vincent!
♪
MARIANA: What's the first thing
you're going to do
when you see him?
CANDACE: Baby breath,
just everything. (chuckles)
♪
BRYAN: He looks just like you.
GIO: That smell,
you know that baby smell?
I want to smell my boy
for the first time.
You know what I mean?
Like, feel that?
MARIANA: Oh, I do.
GIO: And it's becoming
a reality.
(sniffles)
♪
♪
Vincent.
♪
We want to bring forth a life
and give all the gifts
that we have.
Oh, you're
CANDACE: Oh, he's so beautiful.
♪
MARIANA: As this American family
makes its way
out of war-torn Ukraine,
there's no doubt that of all
the products I've pursued
in my career, this one
is the most beautiful.
This is a marketplace that isn't
initially motivated by greed,
but by love.
Then why does it go wrong
in so many parts of the world?
Why do you think
it is an industry
that is prone to having
this dark side?
SUSAN KERSCH-KIBLER:
Because it preys on people's
hopes and dreams
in a very vulnerable situation.
Surrogacy is never
someone's first option.
It's always their
very, very last option.
MARIANA: Susan Kersch-Kibler
has been a helpful
and insightful contact since the
very start of my investigation.
She's a commercial surrogacy
advocate
and the owner of Delivering
Dreams International Surrogacy,
the Ukraine-based agency
that employs Olya.
Why do you think surrogacy is
illegal in so many countries,
including in countries
where it used to be legal?
SUSAN: They didn't have
any regulations, nothing.
There's so many intermediaries
taking money,
no standards of care,
no standards of protection
for the women; nothing.
MARIANA: In my experience,
that's true of any black market,
profits are valued over people,
even if those people
are pregnant women
and unborn babies.
Susan believes that outlawing
surrogacy isn't the solution;
regulation is.
But creating new laws to protect
Kenya's surrogates
is far from guaranteed.
Until then, they're at the mercy
of the black market.
And can I ask you, Agnes,
how much money are you making
from surrogacy?
MARIANA: 25
thousand doll25,000 dollars?
MARIANA: Agnes is another
sex worker Michelle recruited.
But the payment
she's been promised
sounds extremely suspect.
It's far more than any surrogacy
offer I've encountered in Kenya.
That's a lot of money.
Is she really going
to get $25,000?
MARIANA: Agnes is already
seven months pregnant.
She's carrying a child
for a German couple.
Have you received any money
whatsoever, Agnes?
Nothing yet.
Doesn't part of the money,
should come before?
MARIANA: But that's
really risky,
considering you're already
seven months pregnant.
Are you sure you're going
to receive that money?
I trust Michelle.
MARIANA: You trust Michelle.
From what I've seen,
trust isn't enough
to protect Kenya's surrogates
from exploitation.
And even if Agnes receives
all the money
she's been promised,
her story will be the exception,
not the rule.
(baby crying)
Captioned by
Side Door Media Services
♪
♪
MARIANA VAN ZELLER:
So, we're about an hour away
from the border,
trying to make it to Ukraine.
And we're sort of in
a race against time
trying to get there
before curfew.
And we don't know exactly what
the situation is at the border,
you know, obviously we're
heading towards a war zone.
So they're all
a little bit on edge.
(explosions, gunfire)
NEWSCASTER:
Moscow has now unleashed
Europe's largest ground conflict
since World War II.
NEWS CORRESPONDENT:
We are facing
an unprecedented act
of aggression.
(boom)
(siren)
MARIANA: This isn't my first
trip into dangerous territory.
(gunshot)
For nearly two decades,
I've pursued and exposed
the world's most profitable
black markets.
But I've never encountered
any product quite like this.
(baby cooing)
The commercial
surrogacy industry
brings in over
$4 billion a year.
Yet, no one knows exactly how
many babies are changing hands
around the world.
The industry is outlawed
in much of Asia and Europe.
But not here,
in war-torn Ukraine.
(explosion)
(scream)
NEWSCASTER: A basement serving
as a bomb shelter nursery
for 21 surrogate babies.
(siren)
MARIANA: I was shocked to
discover that Ukraine
is one of the world's
top destinations
for commercial surrogacy.
And that many of these
infants trapped by war
are American babies.
(horn honking)
This story sent me on a journey
to expose the dark side
of this global market,
where surrogates are being
imprisoned, raped,
and even left to die,
manipulated by shadowy players,
who profit from the wombs
of vulnerable women.
♪
MARIANA: So I just got word that
there was a baby who was born
today in Ukraine,
a surrogate baby.
Project Dynamo is there
trying to get this baby,
rescue it,
and bring it to safety.
BRYAN STERN: Okay, Dynamo!
MARIANA: Project Dynamo is
a U.S.-based organization
that has been operating
in this war zone.
BRYAN: You can probably hear
the air raid sirens,
'cause they're bombing on
the other side of the city.
MARIANA: Their mission:
to rescue trapped civilians,
including surrogates
and newborns.
I'm due to meet them just
across the border in Ukraine.
Oh, wow. So these trucks here,
these are all trucks
that are waiting
to cross the border.
Trucks full of equipment,
military gear, fuel,
anything that can assist
with the war.
♪
(siren)
(siren)
MARIANA: Mariana van Zeller.
MARIANA: Yes, Lviv.
OFFICER: Okay.
♪
MARIANA: Medyka is the busiest
border crossing
between Poland and Ukraine.
BRYAN: This is a border
you can walk across.
So, this is on the target list.
The Russians really want
to bomb right here.
They don't because
they're afraid of NATO.
MARIANA: Thank you!
BRYAN: But at some point,
there's going to be
some Russian artillery guy and
he's going to push a button,
and one day they're going
to hit a border.
MARIANA: Once I'm through,
I finally meet my contact.
Bryan Stern, the cofounder
of Project Dynamo.
It is crazy to me
what you're doing here.
I mean, you're an American
citizen, right?
Former Navy, and you're,
you find yourself in Ukraine
rescuing surrogate
families and babies.
BRYAN: We've been doing
operations pretty much every day
since February 24th,
since the day of the war.
MARIANA: Bryan is uniquely
qualified for this work.
He's a combat veteran
and a former
Navy intelligence officer.
BRYAN: Everyone's
boarding the buses.
We're bringing people
across the border.
People need help, and being able
to do rescue operations
in weird places with
Russian bad guys everywhere
and artillery and missiles,
being able to do that
is a skill,
and we're very good at this.
MARIANA: Since Project Dynamo's
arrival in Ukraine,
they've rescued
thousands of people,
including
68 surrogate-born babies.
BRYAN: The first one that we did
was premature twin boys.
They were on ventilators,
feeding tubes, and incubators,
and the whole bit.
As we picked them up,
we were taking artillery fire
from the Russians
at both hospitals.
It was early days in the war.
MARIANA: Oh, my god!
Did you ever think, did you
think when you started this
that the surrogacy industry
would be so big
and that you'd have to be
a part of so many rescues?
BRYAN: Honestly, I didn't really
know anything about surrogacy
when I came here.
MARIANA: Neither did I.
♪
So before I set off
into Ukraine,
I track down
a Ukrainian surrogate,
who is seeking refuge in Poland.
What did you do
when the war broke out?
(siren)
(explosions, screaming)
MARIANA: More than 7 million
Ukrainians have fled the country
since the Russian invasion.
Most are children and women,
including surrogates, like Olya.
Was it your decision to move,
or were you asked to move
because you were
carrying this baby?
(speaking Ukrainian)
KATE: The second option,
because she was asked to, yes.
MARIANA: Mm-hmm.
KATE: The biological parents
were really insistent
that they have to be moved.
MARIANA: Olya is
four months pregnant.
She's carrying a child
for a couple from Seattle,
who turned to surrogacy
after nine miscarriages.
Because Olya signed a contract,
she's not entirely
in control of her body,
and this reproductive
arrangement is far from unique.
Today, more than a quarter
of American women
struggle with
impaired fertility,
and media outlets are
sounding the alarm.
NEWSCASTER:
Humans across the globe
are becoming increasingly
less fertile.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Birth rates
in America have fallen
to the lowest levels
in about 90 years.
MARIANA: Science now
offers solutions,
and surrogacy is one of them,
as seen in advertisements
that highlight the marketplace
in Ukraine.
MARIANA: Commercial surrogacy
allows an infertile couple
to implant their embryo into
a healthy third-party surrogate
for an agreed-upon price.
In the United States, that can
cost as much as $200,000.
While in Ukraine,
Europe's poorest country,
it's as little as $30,000.
I think one of the concerns
that people have with surrogacy
is this idea of the
commercialization of the womb.
Do you feel like your womb,
your body is being used
in a, as a product?
MARIANA: And can I ask you,
why did you become
a surrogate mother?
MARIANA: When Olya delivers this
baby, she'll be paid $24,000.
That's six times
her annual salary.
A life-changing sum for her.
But I discovered that Olya
must give birth in Ukraine.
She can't stay in Poland.
BRYAN: In a lot of countries,
surrogacy is against the law.
So, if a surrogate
gives birth in Poland,
because they don't
recognize surrogacy,
that baby belongs to her.
MARIANA: If Olya then
tries to give the baby
to its American parents,
she could be charged
with child trafficking
and the baby becomes
a ward of the Polish state.
So as crazy as it seems
and it sounds,
the only way for them
to actually give birth
to these surrogate babies
is here, being here
BRYAN: Correct.
MARIANA:
in a war zone in Ukraine.
That's why Bryan and I
are at the border,
waiting for an American couple
that's traveled 6,000 miles
from their home in San Francisco
to rescue their newborn son,
Vincent,
who was born to a Ukrainian
surrogate last night
inside a war zone.
♪
BRYAN: People get killed
out here every single day.
I mean, just happens.
They're not safe
until they're safe.
MARIANA: Bryan and his team
quickly move us
to an undisclosed safehouse
outside Ukraine's
westernmost city, Lviv.
Where I finally get
an opportunity
to speak with
baby Vincent's parents.
Did you guys always want to have
kids? Was that always the plan?
GIO GALERA: Absolutely.
CANDACE GALERA:
Yeah. Definitely.
GIO: You know, I mean, obviously
there's the family element
that are like, "Gio,
it's your turn, you know,
you're, everyone's getting
to have families now,
what's going on, you know?"
And that's kind of the Asian
family thing, I guess.
MARIANA: It's a Portuguese
family thing, too.
GIO: Yeah, Portuguese,
too, right?
But in our hearts, too,
we both wanted children.
MARIANA: Gio and Candace
have known each other
since childhood, but it wasn't
until their early thirties
that they reconnected,
fell in love, and got married.
When Candace was diagnosed
with uterine cancer,
the couple turned to surrogacy
to start their family.
It was too expensive
in the U.S.,
so they traveled to Ukraine
for the procedure,
and were told to return
in about nine months.
(explosion)
(siren)
But then, the Russians attacked.
NEWSCASTER: Across Ukraine,
the invasion set off
a desperate rush
to take shelter
NEWSCASTER (overlapping):
So the biggest attack
on one nation against another.
CANDACE: We didn't go to work
for like a month,
just straight CNN, day, night.
It was, it was scary. It was
definitely, definitely scary.
GIO: Right.
MARIANA: With their baby
in harm's way,
they knew they had no choice
but to come rescue him.
GIO: We wanted
to nurture someone.
We wanted to bring forth a life
and give all the gifts.
CANDACE: Give love, yeah.
GIO: All the gifts that we have.
You know, like, I want
to share that with them.
And I want to see what comes
out of this, you know?
And I want to
MARIANA: You're making me cry.
I've met you just
for a few hours,
and I can already tell you guys
are going to be amazing parents.
GIO: Thank you.
Thank you so much.
MARIANA: It's true.
All the love, I can,
I can see and I can feel it.
GIO: Yeah. I mean, from the
moment he was a little peanut,
we could't get him
off our mind.
The whole concept, you know?
MARIANA: It is the best thing
in the world.
GIO: Amen. Thank you.
MARIANA: But rescuing Vincent
isn't guaranteed.
(air raid siren)
BRYAN:
There is no embassy to call.
It's not here.
If things go wrong,
it's our problem to deal with.
So, we are very much on our own.
BRYAN: We're rolling
to get baby Vincent.
So the surrogate needs to be
put on ice for a little bit.
And we'll be baby-on-board,
maybe an hour.
MARIANA: Less than 24 hours ago,
baby Vincent was born.
Now, Bryan Stern and his medical
team are on an urgent mission
to get him out of
the war-torn country.
BRYAN: I'm always
kind of nervous,
because things go wrong.
Things just happen.
MARIANA: The plan is for Bryan
to pick up Vincent
from the hospital,
then deliver him to his parents,
who are heading towards a safer
meeting point outside the city.
BRYAN: I don't really
take a deep breath
until I get them out of Ukraine
as soon as we can.
♪
♪
Alright, rock and roll.
♪
(woman speaking Ukrainian)
(phone chimes)
GIO: Oh, man. Hold on.
She's telling us now that
the baby must be given
to our hands only.
MARIANA: The hospital refuses
to release the baby
to anyone other than
his biological parents.
But for Bryan and
the Project Dynamo team,
that's not the only
hurdle they face
in getting Vincent
out of the country.
BRYAN: So, the problem is, is
that the passports say one thing
and the marriage certificate
says something else, correct?
I underI understand.
Their paperwork is (bleep).
And it'll be Candace's
maiden name, probably,
if I had to guess.
And therefore they're not sure
if they can issue
a birth certificate
in the right names.
Ah, (bleep).
This whole thing is a mess!
MARIANA: These roadblocks exist
for good reason.
(babies crying)
Ukraine produces some 2,000
surrogate births each year.
It's critical that
they make sure
these babies
don't get misplaced,
or worse, trafficked.
(siren)
Project Dynamo is fighting
the good fight,
helping to unite
desperate families.
But the chaos of war could
have a profound effect.
(explosion)
Pushing the surrogacy market
into less regulated countries.
NEWSCASTER: There's been
a storm of controversy
over the Indian
government's move
to restrict child surrogacy.
It considers it
a "rent-a-womb" industry
that exploits
impoverished young women.
MARIANA: India was once
the top destination
for commercial surrogacy before
the country banned it in 2015,
when it discovered women were
being abused and exploited,
and an untold number of babies
were sold onto the black market.
Thousands of miles
south of Ukraine,
I've heard these horror stories
are taking place
in one of the industry's
newest frontiers.
♪
♪
♪
MARIANA: If I'm going to
investigate the criminal corners
of this marketplace,
I need to speak with people
who know criminals.
♪
That's why my Kenyan contacts
put me in touch
with these two women.
Do you think that the parents,
the foreign parents,
know that this is happening?
Do they care?
MARIANA: Mary is a former
prostitute who now advocates
on behalf of
sex workers' rights.
Her friend,
who we'll call Michelle,
does not want to be identified,
because she recruits Kenyan
women into commercial surrogacy.
She says it offers an escape
from extreme poverty
if it's done right.
MARIANA: Right.
MARIANA: Unregulated surrogacy
markets are expanding
around the world, especially in
countries like Mexico, Colombia,
and right here in Kenya.
(baby cries)
Mary and Michelle tell me
it can be a very dirty business,
one that operates
in Nairobi's shadows.
Do you hear a lot
of these stories
of women being exploited?
Of them not being paid
what they were told,
violation of their rights?
MARY: Yes. It is right.
MARIANA: Really?
You hear this a lot?
They share horrific stories
of surrogates dying
during childbirth,
others held captive for months.
And all of it for the product
growing in their womb.
The entire process costs tens
of thousands of U.S. dollars.
But many surrogates get paid
as little as 500 bucks.
MARIANA: Who's keeping
the rest of the money?
Because we know that
it's much more money.
MARIANA: The agent is
keeping the money.
These agents are the linchpins
in an underworld supply chain
that connects foreign couples
from Europe and
the United States
with Kenyan doctors
and, of course, surrogates.
MARIANA: Surrogacy isn't
technically illegal in Kenya.
In fact, it's openly advertised.
But there aren't any
specific laws regulating it.
That means couples must hire
costly lawyers
to navigate the country's
child trafficking laws.
Which, ironically,
ends up fueling
cheaper black market operators
like Michelle.
And I'm going to go
around this way?
MICHELLE: Yeah.
MARIANA: Straight.
Tonight, she plans to recruit
another surrogate
from inside a Nairobi slum.
(horn honking)
This way, yeah?
MARY: Yeah, yeah.
MARIANA: Snatchers?
MARY: Yeah.
(horns honking)
(horn honking)
MARIANA: Far away from
Nairobi's tourist districts,
Michelle offers to show me
how she recruits surrogates.
So where are we going?
MARIANA: Why do you think
she'd be a good person
to be a surrogate?
MARIANA: Oh, wow.
It turns out Michelle is a pimp,
and the women she recruits
are prostitutes.
A fact she doesn't mention
to the foreign couples.
Do you think there is a stigma
attached to sex workers
that would make parents perhaps
not want to have sex workers
as their surrogate mothers?
MARIANA: Michelle claims
she's doing this
to empower the country's
desperate women.
Here. Okay. So, Michelle,
do you go out?
Okay, we'll be here waiting.
MICHELLE: Alright.
(car door shuts)
♪
MARIANA: She went inside.
Here, can you see if
you can hear her?
You can hear?
MARY: No.
MARIANA: Okay, here she is.
Can you hear her now?
MARY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Oh, wow.
MARIANA: Wow. So she's
calling it "my child?"
MARY: Yes. "My child, my child."
MARIANA: Oh, so she, she's,
she's into the idea?
(Mary sighs)
MARIANA: Do you feel good?
MARIANA: Oh, so you want
to go there now?
MICHELLE: Yeah.
MARIANA: In some black markets,
it's hard to tell
the good guys from the bad.
I can't yet decide if I think
Michelle is actually
helping Kenyan women
or just helping herself.
She claims she's liberating them
from the dangers of sex work,
but she may be
steering them towards
an equally dangerous
undertaking.
♪
The following morning,
Mary takes me to meet
a former surrogate
called Ashley,
who experienced
these dangers firsthand.
MARIANA: About a year ago,
Ashley was approached
by a surrogacy agent,
a well-dressed Kenyan woman
in a fancy car
who began grooming Ashley.
MARIANA: Once Ashley agreed
to carry a child,
the agent took her
to a fertility clinic,
where they implanted the embryo
and promised to pay her
just over 800 U.S. dollars.
Did you want to know any
information about the parents?
MARIANA: Ashley was given
a strict set of rules.
She couldn't tell anyone
what she was doing,
she couldn't contact anyone.
She could never, ever
leave the apartment.
MARIANA: Did you think it was
strange that they didn't let you
get out of the house?
MARIANA: Ashley's rent
was paid for,
and every week,
someone brought her food.
MARIANA: Oh, so you wouldn't
be able to see who it was.
ASHLEY: Yeah.
MARIANA: Even though
they told you the rules
was you couldn't tell anyone,
why didn't you?
MARIANA: What happened next
almost did kill Ashley.
Her body began cramping
and bleeding.
She was going into labor.
Ashley was rushed
to the hospital.
Did they know
you were a surrogate
or did they think you were
just a pregnant mother?
MARIANA: And you never
saw the baby?
You don't remember delivering?
(baby crying)
(heavy breathing)
♪
♪
MARIANA: And then you woke up,
and suddenly you were in
a different hospital?
MARIANA: The agent who'd
recruited Ashley was gone.
MARIANA: So they didn't actually
pay you the whole money?
MARIANA: Did you ever think
of going to the police
and telling them
what happened to you?
MARIANA: In this murky industry,
with no clear regulations,
a vulnerable woman like Ashley
had little security.
She never signed a contract.
All she had was the agent's
cell phone number.
(phone ringing)
AUTOMATED VOICE: We're sorry.
Your call cannot be
completed as dialed.
Please check the number
and try again.
(beeping)
♪
MARIANA: He tells me
to call him Peter.
He isn't the agent
who cheated Ashley,
but he plays the same role
in the surrogacy supply chain.
Why do you use the word corrupt?
MARIANA: But do you think that's
a good thing or a bad thing?
♪
MARIANA: Wow.
So you recruit
young female workers?
PETER: Young female workers.
MARIANA: Peter runs a legal
employment agency
that places Kenyan
domestic workers
in households throughout
the Middle East.
But that's not his only
source of income.
MARIANA: I do.
Peter is simultaneously managing
his employment agency
and a black market
surrogacy operation.
MARIANA: Do you make more money
from sending these women abroad?
MARIANA: Even though surrogacy
isn't illegal in Kenya,
doing it lawfully
can be challenging
and cost-prohibitive,
and that's where Peter's
operation comes into play.
As an underworld agent,
Peter is the powerful liaison
between infertile
foreign couples
and some of Kenya's
most desperate women.
And he claims to have
used these women
to successfully deliver babies
to clients from Russia, Turkey,
the Philippines,
and, yes, the United States.
For his part in the operation,
he tells me he receives
somewhere between
$20,000 and $40,000.
Of that money that you receive,
how much of that money goes
to the surrogate mother,
and how much of that money
goes to you?
MARIANA:
I mean, they have a point.
PETER: It's a give and take.
And they have a point.
MARIANA: Yeah.
PETER: Yeah.
MARIANA: Because you are in
the perfect position
to exploit these girls, right?
MARIANA: And so do you?
MARIANA: Peter tries
to persuade me
that he's an honest broker
in a dishonest business.
MARIANA: He tells me
he's not the only one
running surrogates
in Nairobi's shadows.
MARIANA: And why do you think
that is? Why Kenya?
MARIANA: We head to
the safe house?
PETER: Alright.
MARIANA: Okay.
♪
MARIANA: Peter keeps
his pregnant surrogates
in what he calls a safe house
far outside of town.
Are the surrogate mothers in
the safe house the whole time?
♪
MARIANA: Are we close?
♪
♪
MARIANA: One of the things
that Peter told us
was that he prefers if
the women stay in the house
and don't go out for big walks,
or don't
MARIANA: He doesn't like it.
I managed to convince Peter
to wait outside
while I interview one of
his surrogates, Sylvie.
So, I know they're outside.
I just want to make sure
that you feel comfortable
and you don't feel pressured
to do anything.
SYLVIE:
I'm not pressured at all.
MARIANA: Do you ever
leave the safe house
or you're here all the time?
SYLVIE: I don't leave the house.
MARIANA: Ever?
SYLVIE: I only go upstairs
where we hang our clothes.
MARIANA: Uh-huh.
SYLVIE: For my exercise,
I do it here.
I walk here.
MARIANA: And so,
you never, ever leave?
SYLVIE: I don't leave.
♪
MARIANA: Sylvie tells me
she's a single mother
who was desperately searching
for housekeeping work overseas
until Peter convinced her
that surrogacy
would be much more lucrative.
SYLVIE: My kids don't know.
My family don't know.
My mom doesn't know.
Nobody knows.
MARIANA: Mm-hmm.
In fact, Sylvie's family
believes
she is working
in the Middle East.
That's why Peter's
safe house is located
on the outskirts of the city,
far away from anyone who
might recognize Sylvie.
Can I ask you how much money
you're making?
Mmm.
MARIANA: Can I just ask you
if it's more than $5,000?
SYLVIE: You know,
it's less than.
MARIANA:
So it's less than $5,000?
SYLVIE: Yeah.
MARIANA: That may not
sound like much,
but it's a significant amount
of money in a country
where a third of all Kenyans
live on less than $2 a day.
And Sylvie tells me it will
change her children's lives
for the better.
MARIANA: That's what he said.
That's how he said it.
♪
MARIANA: I came to this
safe house expecting to meet
a deliberately misinformed
surrogate under Peter's control,
but Sylvie knows that
she's likely participating
in a black market.
One with no guarantees,
and potentially life-threatening
risks for her and the baby.
Were you concerned about that?
Did you ask those questions?
♪
MARIANA: It seems
everyone I've met
is taking calculated risks
for the money.
♪
(horn honking)
But there's still one missing
link in Peter's supply chain.
So we've been trying to get
a doctor to talk to us,
because one of the things about
the surrogacy industry
is that without, without
doctors, it really doesn't work.
And we've been hitting
brick wall after brick wall.
They stand to lose a lot,
including their jobs,
if they talk about this.
But Peter has convinced
his doctor to meet us today.
I've heard he's super nervous,
but I'm hoping that we can
convince him to talk.
(phone chimes)
Okay. He says he's here.
I think that's him.
♪
♪
MARIANA: Okay, Doctor, what do
you think would happen to you
if you were caught?
MARIANA: This is the doctor
that's the linchpin
in Peter's
black market operation.
While Peter oversees
the foreign couples,
the surrogate recruitment,
and the safe houses,
it all means nothing without
a medical professional
who can supervise the pregnancy.
And because the doctor works at
one of Nairobi's best
public hospitals,
he has the perfect cover,
delivering illegal
surrogate babies
without raising suspicion.
Doc, how did you get involved
in the surrogacy business?
MARIANA: And so what convinced
you to do it then?
MARIANA: Sub-Saharan Africa
has the world's highest
maternal mortality rate.
A Kenyan woman is 15 times more
likely to die during childbirth
than a woman in
the United States.
The doctor tells me
he personally knows of Kenyans
who have died delivering babies
for foreign couples.
But because this is illegal,
their families never find out
what happened to them.
Are you getting emotional
talking about this?
♪
MARIANA: How many other doctors
are out here in Kenya
doing this?
MARIANA: A dozen?
MARIANA: The doctor tells me
he's delivered surrogate babies
for Australians, Canadians,
and Americans,
sometimes five babies a month;
so many that he's lost count.
So why did you agree
to talk to us?
♪
MARIANA: Sorry, there's
a car that parked
right there with, uh,
smoke windows
that looks very suspicious.
(beep)
Hey, guys, can you hear me
on walkie?
Hi.
Hey, any idea who that car is
that parked right there?
MARIANA:
Nobody came out of the car.
If it's, could be
undercover cops,
it could be a lot of things.
We send someone in my team
to investigate.
Okay, she's walking.
♪
♪
Let's see what she says.
MARIANA: They're definitely
checking us out, 100%.
I don't know what you
want to do, move, move or
Hey, guys, we're not
feeling comfortable,
and Doctor is definitely not
feeling comfortable
with this location right now,
so we're going to move.
I've been in enough
of these situations
where I know when
we're being watched.
♪
(horn honking)
♪
Are they coming?
MARIANA: The doctor is
too frightened to continue,
but he gives me a lead
on where to head next.
He says he only
delivers the babies,
he doesn't create
and implant the embryos.
That has to happen inside
of one of the six
state-of-the-art IVF clinics.
We know there's an existence
of this black market,
and this black market doesn't
exist without an IVF clinic.
It just doesn't.
MARIANA: Dr. Joshua Noreh is
the Medical Director
at the Nairobi IVF Center,
the biggest fertility clinic
in the country,
where they perform up to 100
embryo implantations
every month.
But how can you be sure
that the surrogate mothers
that you're implanting
aren't in fact going to be
exploited later on?
MARIANA: Does that bother you,
knowing that possibly
you're a part, a very important
part of this process?
MARIANA: Dr. Noreh assures me
that his clinic
takes great pains
to vet their surrogates
and weed out criminal operators.
But because the IVF process
is highly specialized,
it's clear that at least
one of Kenya's six clinics
is implanting embryos
into the country's
black market surrogates.
What I still don't understand
is how the babies
are getting out of the country.
In Kenya, custody can
only be transferred
to the biological parents
through the court system.
But that can take months,
even years,
which sends
frightened foreigners
into the arms of the underworld.
If it is completely illegal,
then how are the parents
being able
to take the kids
out of the country?
MARIANA:
So the paperwork is forged?
MICHELLE: Yes.
MARIANA: But the doctor knows
the baby didn't come from
MICHELLE: Yes.
MARIANA: Oh, you pay the doctor?
MICHELLE: Yes.
MARIANA: I came to Kenya
in search of a black market
that operates
in Nairobi's shadows.
Instead, I uncovered
an open secret.
One that takes place
in broad daylight.
This lucrative supply chain
connects couples
with savvy agents who
manipulate poor surrogates
and pay off
some ambitious doctors,
inside the city's
best hospitals.
With so many illicit steps
needed to procure a baby,
it's hard to believe
that couples
from places like
Australia and America
are kept completely in the dark.
Do you think they know that?
MARIANA:
You tell them, look, what you're
doing is actually illegal?
MARIANA: And what do they say?
MARIANA: They do it?
(children shouting playfully)
(sobbing)
NEWSCASTER: And once again,
in the center of Europe,
innocent women, men
and children are dying.
MARIANA: By the fourth month
of the war in Ukraine,
nearly 9,000 civilian casualties
were documented
across the country.
(bell tolling)
This grim statistic wasn't going
to deter one American couple.
GIO: Whether it takes a war
or, you know, whatever,
for us to go through
to get, to get this,
that's nothing to us, no.
It's all worth it.
MARIANA: Unlike Kenya,
there are specific laws
regulating commercial surrogacy
in Ukraine.
These laws are intended to
make sure that every child
is delivered to its rightful
biological parents.
Gio and Candace were initially
having difficulty
proving their relationship
to their son.
But Bryan Stern
and Project Dynamo
were able to clear up
the confusion.
So Candace and Gio just met
the surrogate mother's
mother and son.
The surrogate mother is inside
with the baby,
and this is the moment of
the big, the big meeting.
You know, they're very,
very anxious and nervous
for this moment.
BRYAN: You guys ready?
CANDACE: Yeah.
BRYAN: You guys ready?
GIO: Yes, I'm ready.
BRYAN: You ready,
you want to meet him?
MARIANA: (gasps) Oh, my god!
That's the surrogate mother!
♪
After years of frustration
trying to conceive,
a 6,000-mile journey,
and a full-scale war,
Gio and Candace are finally
going to meet their son.
GIO: Oh, he's come,
he's coming right now.
BRYAN: He comes.
MARIANA: So this is it!
Oh, wow, the baby's coming out.
BRYAN: Baby Vincent!
♪
MARIANA: What's the first thing
you're going to do
when you see him?
CANDACE: Baby breath,
just everything. (chuckles)
♪
BRYAN: He looks just like you.
GIO: That smell,
you know that baby smell?
I want to smell my boy
for the first time.
You know what I mean?
Like, feel that?
MARIANA: Oh, I do.
GIO: And it's becoming
a reality.
(sniffles)
♪
♪
Vincent.
♪
We want to bring forth a life
and give all the gifts
that we have.
Oh, you're
CANDACE: Oh, he's so beautiful.
♪
MARIANA: As this American family
makes its way
out of war-torn Ukraine,
there's no doubt that of all
the products I've pursued
in my career, this one
is the most beautiful.
This is a marketplace that isn't
initially motivated by greed,
but by love.
Then why does it go wrong
in so many parts of the world?
Why do you think
it is an industry
that is prone to having
this dark side?
SUSAN KERSCH-KIBLER:
Because it preys on people's
hopes and dreams
in a very vulnerable situation.
Surrogacy is never
someone's first option.
It's always their
very, very last option.
MARIANA: Susan Kersch-Kibler
has been a helpful
and insightful contact since the
very start of my investigation.
She's a commercial surrogacy
advocate
and the owner of Delivering
Dreams International Surrogacy,
the Ukraine-based agency
that employs Olya.
Why do you think surrogacy is
illegal in so many countries,
including in countries
where it used to be legal?
SUSAN: They didn't have
any regulations, nothing.
There's so many intermediaries
taking money,
no standards of care,
no standards of protection
for the women; nothing.
MARIANA: In my experience,
that's true of any black market,
profits are valued over people,
even if those people
are pregnant women
and unborn babies.
Susan believes that outlawing
surrogacy isn't the solution;
regulation is.
But creating new laws to protect
Kenya's surrogates
is far from guaranteed.
Until then, they're at the mercy
of the black market.
And can I ask you, Agnes,
how much money are you making
from surrogacy?
MARIANA: 25
thousand doll25,000 dollars?
MARIANA: Agnes is another
sex worker Michelle recruited.
But the payment
she's been promised
sounds extremely suspect.
It's far more than any surrogacy
offer I've encountered in Kenya.
That's a lot of money.
Is she really going
to get $25,000?
MARIANA: Agnes is already
seven months pregnant.
She's carrying a child
for a German couple.
Have you received any money
whatsoever, Agnes?
Nothing yet.
Doesn't part of the money,
should come before?
MARIANA: But that's
really risky,
considering you're already
seven months pregnant.
Are you sure you're going
to receive that money?
I trust Michelle.
MARIANA: You trust Michelle.
From what I've seen,
trust isn't enough
to protect Kenya's surrogates
from exploitation.
And even if Agnes receives
all the money
she's been promised,
her story will be the exception,
not the rule.
(baby crying)
Captioned by
Side Door Media Services