Surrogacy in China Remains Illegal

15.03.2013

The Ministry of Health (MOH) reiterated Tuesday that it would step up its control over Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), quashing speculation surrogacy could be legalized after the ministry collected health experts' opinions on the issue.

The announcement comes in response to a Tuesday report by the Beijing Times that claimed China might soften its stance on surrogacy.

"If everything goes smoothly, Chinese couples could legitimately hire surrogate mothers to bear children in five to 10 years," said Qiao Jie, director of the Center of Reproductive Medicine of the Third School of Clinical Medicine at Peking University.

The ministry said most medical, legal, ethical and sociological experts invited to work on an ART research project agreed that legalizing the method could cause social problems.

Ethical order would be disturbed, while physical and mental anguish would be inflicted on the surrogate mother and baby, the ministry said.

Surrogacy has been outlawed in China, with medical professionals caught breaking the law facing fines and possible jail terms.

Yang Zhizhu, a former law professor at the China Youth University for Political Sciences, supports the ministry's view, saying surrogacy is unethical as it involves "renting out the human body as a commodity."

"Under China's current legal framework, whoever delivers the baby is its custodian. When a surrogate breaches a contract, the law favors the surrogate instead of the baby's biological parents," said Yang.

However, Qiao said an MOH regulation issued in 2001 that outlawed surrogacy had caused some medical irregularities and misconduct. "Issues include the safety of the surrogate mother and ensuring the adoption is properly regulated," he told the Global Times.

Surrogacy is legal in the UK, India, Malaysia and some US states. In China, many such contracts are inked behind closed doors.

In 2001, a wealthy couple in South China's Guangdong Province was investigated for having five of their eight babies via two surrogate mothers, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

In October last year, health bureau officials in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, raided an illegal surrogacy agency. The next month they revoked the medical license of a doctor who provided such services, the Shenzhen Evening News reported.

"The regulation only has power to punish medical professionals and institutions, but is powerless to punish the surrogate and biological parents involved," Yang told the Global Times.

www.globaltimes.cn