TV: The child, war and morality – a touching ZDF film

They are already looking for baby clothes in stores: After six failed attempts at artificial insemination, Judith (Lisa Maria Potthoff) and Niclas (Maximilian Brückner) only see one option for their unfulfilled desire to have children: a surrogate mother. Despite initial concerns and legal obstacles, young Oksana (Alina Danko) is supposed to bear a child in the Ukraine for the couple in their mid-forties from Munich.

Back to war – because of German laws

But then Russian troops attack the country. Amid political and moral conflicts, the drama “My Child” shows a couple who are ready to cross all boundaries to fulfill their dream of having a family. The film can be seen on Monday (October 28th) from 8:15 p.m. on ZDF.

The contracts have been signed and preparations for their long-desired offspring are in full swing when news of the war reaches Judith and Niclas. They have to pursue helplessly in the media how the destructive attack threatens the life of their unborn child. While the surrogate agency still wants to appease the couple, they desperately try to reach Oksana. But there the young woman fled the country with fear. Suddenly she stands at the door of the German couple with her nine -year -old daughter. Judith and Niclas do not hesitate for a second and absorb the two.

One in six couples is involuntarily childless

With the surrogate mother, relief moves into the couple’s house. But the supposed security doesn’t last long: The Ukrainian agency insists on compliance with the contracts: Oksana actually shouldn’t have left her homeland. Because surrogacy is prohibited in Germany, the dream baby in Ukraine has to be born. Although there is war, Oksana has to return – so that she gets her money. For Judith and Niclas this means that after the birth they have to undertake the dangerous journey themselves and get their child out of the war zone. Will there be a happy ending?

“My Child” raises difficult questions for which there are no easy answers: What responsibility do Judith and Niclas have towards Oksana, who is suddenly much more than just a contractual partner for them? Wie weit sind sie bereit zu gehen, um ihren Traum von einer Familie zu verwirklichen? Der Krieg kommt ihnen und Oksana näher als befürchtet. In addition to the fear for Oksana and the baby, whose lives are in danger, there is a second concern: Will the baby get used to the Ukrainian mother in the first weeks of life?

Babies – ordered and not picked up

The idea for the ZDF production came about shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine, when images of surrogate mothers and their babies who had to endure shelters in Kiev went around the world. The mothers were stuck with children who could not be picked up by their foreign wish parents. “It was only then that a new business model for modern reproductive medicine and the dimensions it had already assumed came into public awareness,” explains Matthias Pfeifer, television drama editor at ZDF.

For childless couples in Germany, the business in which women carry a child for others in exchange for payment is often the last glimmer of hope. The approximately 15 percent who are involuntarily childless in this country only have the option of taking in an adoptive or foster child. Surrogacy is prohibited in the Federal Republic for ethical reasons. In Ukraine, however, it is legal. Agencies can mediate between surrogate mothers and couples for as little as 40,000 euros in the standard package – a profitable business.