Inside China’s surrogacy ‘industry’

“The baby is out!”, the nurse announced after the baby’s cry. The Chinese couple looked at each other and high-fived in celebration. Their child was just born to another woman. The couple’s nearly three-year surrogacy journey in America ended.

For the woman carrying the baby for 9 months, her role is now complete. For Peng and Li, this choice is a compromise. Li wants to have children but does not want to get pregnant and give birth. Peng longed to have children but also sympathized with his wife’s worries. The two decided to learn about surrogacy 4 years ago. They started their journey in August 2021. Midway, they discovered many friends had made similar choices.

In China, surrogacy is more common than people think. Many couples, even single people, choose this method. Well-off couples of childbearing age often go to the United States, where surrogacy is legal and has advanced medical services.

Interviewed with Zaobao newspaper, two surrogacy companies in the US confirmed that about 50% of their clients come from China and this ratio is increasing. According to West Coast Surrogacy, 10 years ago, 40% of their customers were Chinese.

Countries have different legal views on surrogacy. Singapore prohibits surrogacy. Many European countries ban commercial surrogacy but allow humanitarian surrogacy. Some US states allow commercial surrogacy services.

However, the cost of surrogacy in the US is quite high, from 180,000 to 250,000 USD – a significant financial barrier. Therefore, Chinese people still have to look for surrogacy opportunities domestically, creating a complex underground industry that is not socially accepted and lies in a legal gray area.

Founded in 2004, AA69 claims to be the first surrogacy agency in China. Over the past two decades, the number of companies of this type has increased significantly.

According to Caixin estimates in 2017, there are about 1,000 companies providing surrogacy services in China, of which 20 to 30 companies are of a certain size. The number of births through surrogacy each year is estimated to be 20,000. Seven years later, these numbers may have increased.

Works underground but methodically

Surrogacy companies mainly operate discreetly in large cities with high incomes such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Hangzhou. Their processes are quite similar. The surrogate mother needs to check her health, ovulation period, embryo culture and implantation, and pregnancy check. Surrogacy costs range from 450,000 to 800,000 yuan (62,150 to 110,400 USD).

The broker calls himself a “fertility consultant”. Some people provide personal information to create an impression of professionalism and trustworthiness. They discuss service packages with customers fluently and in detail. To avoid sensitive terms, the industry uses code words: “dy” for “surrogacy” (代育, dai yu) and “取 L” for “egg retrieval” (取卵, qu luan).

To ease their clients’ worries, “fertility consultants” give carefully prepared answers. They claim to have an agreement with the maternity hospital, promising to handle all related legal issues and affirming that “surrogacy is not a crime”, ensuring that customers will be released on the same day if arrested. .

These surrogacy agencies operate through illegal relationships with local hospitals. The Qingdao government recently announced the results of an investigation into northern China’s largest underground surrogacy facility, involving a 3A public hospital and its doctors.

Among those who need surrogacy services are wealthy families or single people who want to have children. They choose this even though they have no fertility problems. However, the number of people who cannot have children for health reasons still accounts for the majority, such as infertile couples, elderly people who have lost their only child, and older couples who want to have a second or third child. . Two surrogacy companies in the US said this group accounts for 60% to 90% of the total demand for surrogacy services.

Among those interested in surrogacy services in China, there is a small group: homosexuals. In May, Liu Zifan, 33, and his same-sex partner welcomed their surrogate child in the US. Liu struggled with the decision to adopt and become a surrogate. In the end, he chose the path of blood. Surrogacy is the only way for Liu to have a biological child.

However, those with more progressive ideas may not consider blood as a prerequisite. Peng and Li belong to this group. Their son carries Peng’s genes but is not related to Li. After doctors discovered Li had a low egg count, the couple decided to use donor eggs to increase their chances of success.

Village surrogacy

Qili Village in Hubei Province was once a famous “surrogacy village” in China, home to many companies providing this service, allowing women in the village to earn from 150,000 to 250,000 yuan a day. childbirth. In an interview conducted by Chinese media 7 years ago, villagers shared, “99% of the women here were surrogate mothers.”

By this year, the village no longer practices this profession. As economic conditions improved and the previous generation of women aged, few locals were willing to bear children for another couple.

The difficulty of finding surrogate mothers in a village that once provided mass service reflects the regional shift of this underground industry over the past decade, from the economically backward central region to less developed places. than Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi.

However, Chinese laws on surrogacy have remained essentially unchanged in the past 20 years. Measures for the Management of Assisted Human Reproduction Technology announced by the Ministry of Health in 2001 stipulate that medical facilities and medical staff are not allowed to perform surrogacy procedures in any form. .

Some say these outdated ministerial regulations are ineffective, creating a legal vacuum that allows commercial surrogacy companies to operate unchecked. Others say the ambiguity in China’s surrogacy law is intentional.

Public opinion is mixed

Those who do not support surrogacy say that this will “affect the definition of the parent-child relationship”. Associate Professor Xu Wenhai from the School of Law, East China Normal University (ECNU), points out that surrogacy poses a challenge to who is the child’s legal mother and “significantly destabilizes” the relationship. parent-child relationship.

Another ethical debate revolves around the exploitation of women. Opponents say commercial surrogacy turns birth into a commodity, exacerbating gender inequality.

On the other hand, advocates feel that surrogacy will allow people with fertility problems to become parents, so that all groups can enjoy the right to have children. In countries like the US, where surrogacy is legal, both parties enter into the transaction voluntarily, and the law may also protect the rights of the surrogate as much as possible.

Cong Yali, a professor at the Department of Ethics and Law, School of Medical Humanities, Peking University, said that although people who cannot reproduce “deserve sympathy”, surrogacy is ethically creates many problems and potential harm. Cong found that most surrogate mothers in China are poor women. They go to brokerage companies because of financial difficulties, not because of voluntary choice.

Although he does not support it, Xu still believes that surrogacy will be commercialized in China one day. Sperm donation is now legal and non-commercial egg donation is expected to follow. With the advancement of technology, surrogacy using an artificial uterus will also become a reality. “We are gradually moving in this direction, and time will give us the answer,” he added.