Why China keeps surrogacy a grey area
Despite ban, one agency in Shanghai has seen 10,000 babies born
The possibility of China legalising surrogate births has been a hot topic on the mainland this year, even though the government appears reluctant to address the matter.
Medical institutions and staff on the mainland were banned from carrying out “any form of surrogacy” by a Ministry of Health regulation issued in 2001, but experts and industry players say it operates in a de facto grey area, with law enforcement agencies frequently looking the other way.
As a result, the surrogacy business has been booming. One of the biggest agencies, Shanghai-based AA69 has seen 10,000 babies born via its service since its launch in 2004. Customers pay about 1 million yuan (US$145,400) for a baby delivered by a surrogate mother, China Newsweek magazine reported in February.
He Yafu, a Guangdong-based independent demographer, said the authorities held “vague” attitudes towards surrogacy.
“It’s not legal because it’s forbidden by the health authorities, but on the other hand it’s not illegal since the regulation – not a law – only governs medical institutions and staff, not other organisations or other people,” he told the South China Morning Post.
He said it was not appropriate to legalise surrogacy for everyone because it was a complicated issue with legal, ethical and social dimensions. But the government could consider allowing certain groups of people, such as couples whose only child had died and who were too old to conceive, to have a baby through surrogacy.