China Bans Surrogate Motherhood, Raids Underground Clinics

The Chinese National Health Commission (NHC) on Friday announced a strict ban on “all forms of surrogacy,” and made “organizing surrogacy” a criminal offense with “severe legal penalties.” The ban was announced after a series of raids on underground clinics in the village of Changsha over the past few months. Some of these raids were based on tips from “anti-trafficking activists” who noticed unusually large numbers of women drifting in and out of rented houses. Changsha, located in the central Hunan province, was apparently the epicenter of a human trafficking racket that used poor and disabled women as breeding stock. Some of the women found in the underground clinics said they were paid modest stipends in exchange for the use of their wombs. Some claimed their benefits plan did not include anesthesia during childbirth. All of the recovered surrogate mothers were transferred into the custody of Chinese government agencies. The use of disabled women in the scheme prompted considerable outrage among Chinese commentators, which may have prompted the NHC to crack down harder. China strongly frowns upon surrogacy, which was not technically illegal, but has been regulated and restricted so heavily that complying with the rules is all but impossible. Most legal paths to surrogacy through accredited medical institutions were closed in 2001, but underground clinics keep appearing to meet public demand and the government keeps tightening the laws to put them out of business. In essence, doctors and medical institutions cannot practice surrogacy and no one else can meet the requirements to conduct it legally. One reason for China’s antipathy to the practice is cultural. Chinese culture and law put great emphasis upon family and blood relationships, which are greatly complicated by human assisted reproductive technology. Many Chinese also believe surrogate motherhood is demeaning to women and there is some anxiety about homosexuals using surrogacy to have children. Some critics are angered by the prospect of wealthy people exploiting young, fertile, and poor women to bear their children. Others fear poor women would be all too eager to rent their wombs – or those of their daughters, a particular concern given the preference of Chinese couples for male children. In 2021, a major public scandal broke out when an actress named Zheng Shuang went to the United States to find surrogate mothers for two children and then abandoned them. The scandal prompted calls to close the “loopholes” that let well-heeled Chinese hire surrogates abroad. In its statement on Friday, the NHC pointedly reminded parents that “surrogacy agreements” are not protected by law, so there is no recourse if either party fails to live up to its obligations. Anxiety over China’s demographic decline is doubtless keeping underground surrogacy clinics in business, but no matter how dire birth rates become, the Chinese Communist government remains hostile to the practice.