Surrogate mother has added bonus of dodging one-child policy, as in-vitro fertilization creates chance of having twins


Surrogacy is illegal in the country, but try telling that to the increasingly wealthy Chinese who are getting others to carry and give birth to their babies.

More than 25,000 children were born to surrogate mothers in China over the past three decades, with their births arranged by over 500 unlicensed agencies, according to some estimates.

It is a growing phenomenon, said several agencies, some of whom spoke to The Straits Times on condition of anonymity.

In particular, many Chinese want to have a baby during this auspicious Year of the Dragon. Some agencies say their business spiked by some 30 percent last year over the year before.

“Most couples want to have a Dragon baby, so surrogates have to be impregnated the year before,” said an agency owner in Beijing.

A check by The Straits Times also found more than 200 online discussion groups on infertility with a total of about 35,000 members, the majority looking for surrogate mothers.

Most couples go through an agency, which acts as a middleman, to connect them with women willing to rent out their wombs.

The first of such unlicensed firms opened in 2004. It advertised online to reach infertile couples and recruit surrogate mothers.

The entire process costs about 300,000 yuan (US$47,534). The agent pockets 20,000 yuan and the surrogate mother, usually recruited from the countryside, is paid around 140,000 yuan.

The remaining amount goes to medical expenses such as hormone therapy treatment and the baby’s delivery.

The surrogate mother typically offers just her womb. A fertilized embryo from a childless couple is placed in her. She is then paid in instalments and gets a bigger payoff once the baby is handed over to the biological parents. This is done to ensure that she fulfills her end of the contract.

Customers have the option of caring for the surrogate mother themselves. Otherwise, she will be placed under the agency’s care for 3,000 yuan a month, and live in an apartment with a nanny on standby 24 hours a day.

The growing demand is due to several factors. For one thing, many urban Chinese, like people in developed countries, are marrying later and postponing child birth as work demands and the high costs of city living weigh couples down.

Sometimes, vanity is involved: Women, particularly those with careers, simply want to maintain their svelte figures.

Older couples are more likely to have problems conceiving, doctors say. One in every eight Chinese couples struggles to have a baby, according to official statistics.

This is five times the number compared with 20 years ago. In 2010, 40 million people in China were affected by sterility.

A surrogate mother in China has the added bonus of possibly dodging the country’s one-child policy, as in-vitro fertilization creates a higher chance of having twins or even triplets. Twins and other multiple-birth deliveries are exempt from the penalties.

But locals are not the only ones seeking wombs for rent. The relatively low cost of surrogacy in China has attracted childless couples from overseas, too.

“Americans and Europeans also come to us when they want children,” said an agency owner, who has had seven years’ experience in the business and seen more than 6,000 successful births.

‘It costs twice as much to do the surrogacy process in the U.S., and the facilities are the same.’

The authorities are trying to crack down on the practice after a woman in southern Guangzhou hired two surrogate mothers to give birth to eight babies, local media said last year.

The public attention stemming from the incident and complaints about the exploitation of women’s bodies prompted officials in March to call for tighter laws against surrogacy.

While the Chinese Health Ministry has banned medical institutions from trading in embryos and assisting in surrogate pregnancies, there are no clear laws against surrogacy services.

In 2009, three surrogate mothers were forced to abort their fetuses when they were discovered.

By Aw Cheng Wei

(The Straits Times)