Is surrogacy legal in China in 2018? Will surrogacy be punished in China
4hw.com.cn: whether surrogacy is legal or not has been a controversial topic in recent years. The existing national laws do not state whether it is allowed or legal, that is to say, it is still in a fuzzy area, and the dispute on whether China should moderately liberalize surrogacy or legalize surrogacy has resurfaced. Is surrogacy illegal in 2018? Come and have a look.
Due to the business opportunities, a certain scale of underground surrogacy industry chain has sprung up in China, including the client, surrogacy intermediary, surrogate (surrogate mother) market, medical personnel or black clinics who help to implement surrogacy technology, pharmaceutical device providers who support surrogacy, media publishers and propagandists, etc.
However, the surrogacy industry in China is in a gray state that the law cannot help but the government does not allow. Many demanders are worried about the legal and moral risks and go overseas to seek surrogacy.
In the future, is surrogacy prohibited or released, or is there a third way to open up to a certain extent?
Reasons for the ban of the Ministry of health
Surrogacy has appeared in China for more than 20 years. After the development of IVF technology in China, the first surrogate IVF was born in the Third Hospital of Peking University in September 1996. After multiple abortions, the mother of the child underwent sterilization due to uterine rupture in the second trimester, so she chose surrogacy.
Lu Guangxiu, the 78 year old director of Xiangya reproductive and genetic Hospital of CITIC, is an expert in reproductive medicine. She gave birth to China's first frozen sperm artificial insemination baby. In the late 1980s, she took part in the national "Seventh Five Year Plan" key research projects of human IVF and embryo transfer, namely IVF.
Lu Guangxiu told Caijing that in the 1990s, before the original ban on surrogacy issued by the Ministry of health, some cases of surrogacy began to appear in China. "There are several very successful cases, but there are also unsuccessful ones. I have also implemented surrogacy technology. At that time, there were several hospitals that could implement assisted reproductive technology in China, with the participation of experts and strict implementation. At that time, the hospital did not implement surrogacy for money.
Through a few cases of surrogacy at that time, Lu Guangxiu found that although surrogacy technology was relatively simple in medicine, it would bring many legal, ethical and social problems. She met with a case where the woman had breast cancer and was unable to bear children, so she asked others to surrogate her. At that time, there was no legal regulation, and the two sides signed a contract. However, during the surrogate period, the surrogate party constantly put forward new requirements. "Fortunately, the relevant departments of Hunan Provincial Government participated in the surrogate, and then she successfully passed the crisis.".
She also learned about a case in which her elder sister helped her younger sister to surrogate her baby. The early stage was relatively smooth, but when the fetus was about to give birth, because of family conflicts, the elder sister aborted the fetus, which made me feel terrible. Without legal protection, both sides had risks.
In addition, there are two main ways of surrogacy, one is that sperm and eggs come from the demand side of surrogacy, the other is that sperm comes from the demand side of surrogacy, but the eggs come from the surrogate mother. The latter is easy to bring about the dispute of custody and visitation.
There are different attitudes towards surrogacy in the world. Surrogacy was allowed in South Korea, some states of the United States, Russia, India and Thailand, and later tightened in Thailand, Lu said. British and Dutch laws allow surrogacy, but prohibit commercial surrogacy. Switzerland, France, Germany and other countries explicitly prohibit surrogacy.
Brazil stipulates that the surrogate must be related to the patient's husband and wife, Greece stipulates that the surrogate must have medical support and be approved by the court, Britain stipulates that the surrogate must be approved by the embryo authority, and in these countries, the surrogate is free.
In Hong Kong, surrogacy must be entrusted. Both the entrusting couple and the surrogate must be coached by at least two doctors, but it cannot involve transaction and commercial purposes, otherwise the three parties will be held liable. Therefore, although surrogacy is possible in Hong Kong, few people in the mainland go to Hong Kong for surrogacy. 'said Lu Guangxiu.
Most of the countries that open surrogacy do not advocate commercial surrogacy and lease the uterus.
Lu Guangxiu said that the surrogate mothers of commercial surrogacy are generally short of money. They are vulnerable groups. They rent the uterus as a reproductive tool. During pregnancy, there are risks of miscarriage, complications and so on. Miscarriage will also cause 20% of female infertility. If a child is born with deformity or mental defect, what should neither party do? If a pregnant woman is in critical condition during childbirth, 'who will choose to save the child or the mother, these are all problems, and the interests of the surrogate must be considered'.
Based on the above situation and reference to the international situation, the former Ministry of Health issued the measures for the management of human assisted reproductive technology (hereinafter referred to as the measures for assisted reproductive technology) in 2001, prohibiting medical institutions and medical personnel from implementing any form of surrogate technology, and Lu Guangxiu participated in the formulation of the measures. When the laws and regulations are not perfect, if we open up a mode of birth, neither side will be guaranteed. '
Another insider familiar with the original ban on surrogacy from the Ministry of Health told Caijing that the Ministry of health had analyzed the experience and lessons of more than 30 countries and regions that had made regulations on surrogacy at that time, and decided to ban surrogacy based on China's actual situation.
As in the UK, there is no commercial interest in voluntary donation of surrogacy, and the establishment of the embryo authority has experts to review surrogacy applications fairly, which is' difficult to work in China '. Once surrogacy is allowed, it will further commercialize assisted reproductive technology, he said. 'the number of people who really need surrogacy may be less than 1 & permil; in China'. Without the protection of the superior law, releasing the needs of these few people will damage the interests of most people.
After the ban, the underground surrogacy industry appeared in China. Lu Guangxiu heard that some surrogates are college students, and she expressed her concern that 'they have never had children. They can't just make money without considering the surrogate's body and mind. It is the rich who seek surrogacy. Surrogacy can not only solve the needs of these few people, but also ignore the interests of others. Some ideas that they can give birth but don't want to experience the pregnancy process should not be ignored. '
The difference between domestic and overseas surrogate market
A large number of infertile patients and the lost population are considered to be the basis of surrogacy. At present, there is no accurate statistical data between these two groups. According to the survey released by China Population Association in 2012, there are more than 40 million infertile people in China, accounting for 12.5% of the population of childbearing age.
However, the solutions to infertility include drug treatment, in vitro baby, artificial insemination and so on. Surrogacy is not the only option.
Surrogacy is in the gray area, and it is difficult to count the number of surrogacy. Aa69 surrogate claims to be the first surrogate network in China, and its website claims to have created the surrogate industry in China since 2004, and has successfully produced more than 10000 babies.
The measures for assisted reproduction clearly stipulates that medical institutions and medical personnel shall not implement any form of surrogacy technology. In 2003, the former Ministry of Health issued the ethical principles of human assisted reproductive technology and human sperm bank, which also clearly stipulated that medical personnel should not implement surrogacy technology.
Some companies engaged in surrogacy agencies believe that the above provisions are only administrative rules and regulations, which do not prohibit surrogacy at the legal level, and administrative rules only restrict medical institutions and medical personnel, and do not explicitly prohibit individuals and intermediary agencies from engaging in surrogacy.
According to a document sent by a staff member of aa69, the company is the only agency that can provide high-end medical cooperation, with ultra-high security and refined logistics management. Surrogate mothers live in 'medium and high-grade residential areas'. There are mature solutions for all kinds of emergencies during pregnancy,' 24-hour management personnel, who supervise the daily life of surrogate mothers every day '. As there are many fake agents of the company, customers will sign contracts with the chairman LV Jinfeng in person or by video.
The company's fee package is divided into different situations. For example, the successful package risk package starting from 650000 yuan can be divided into different grades according to the number of payments and physical conditions, with a maximum payment of 1.35 million yuan. The so-called package success commitment refers to the guarantee that within two years and three IVF cycles, the sperm and egg suppliers specified in the agreement will produce a baby that meets the discharge health standard, except for the congenital diseases caused by the genetic defects of the sperm and egg suppliers of the customer, otherwise aa69 will return the paid amount to the customer. In addition, there are 360000 yuan start-up full commission package without risk package.
As for the above commitments, the risk factors are still unpredictable, and the simplest possibility is how to deal with the escape of the surrogate mother under centralized management? Therefore, aa69 stated in the package of 360000 yuan that if the surrogate mother disappeared during pregnancy, 60% of the money will be refunded to the customer.
Although surrogacy is not prohibited by law in China, it is against the government order and surrogacy companies are on the edge of law. This makes many surrogacy demanders feel that there is no legal protection, and they turn to overseas surrogacy services.
Liu Lin (pseudonym), suffering from childbearing problems, failed to have a son for many years and finally chose to go to the United States to surrogate her. The reproductive center of the British hospital helped Liu Lin complete the surrogacy. The reproductive hospital is mainly engaged in IVF, has a clinic in Japan and the United States, and has a surrogate agency partner in the United States. In 2012, it entered China and established a Beijing Representative Office.
Claire, medical assistant of the Department, said that in the past two years, with the liberalization of the two child policy, the number of clients going to the United States for surrogacy has increased gradually. "In 2012, there were two or three clients for surrogacy, and now the total number of surrogacy is about 50.". The age of surrogacy is between 35-45 years old. There is a certain economic basis. Most of them have uterine diseases and are unable to bear children. Some people want to have a second child, but they don't want to spend time trying to conceive and find a surrogate. 'a client said, I'll pay and you can pick up the baby for me. 'Claire said.
Some Chinese clients go directly to the United States to find surrogate companies to complete surrogacy. Mingzhao Dong works for conceptual options, a surrogate company in San Diego.
According to Dong Mingzhao, the laws of different states in the United States are different. California has been clear that surrogacy is legal as early as 1993, and the laws are the most relaxed. There are no restrictions on the demand for surrogacy, such as heterosexual partners, same-sex partners, unmarried men and women. It is the largest commercial surrogacy state in the United States.
Even if California's environment is more relaxed, surrogacy companies will occasionally receive protests about surrogacy - why not adopt, but surrogate?
Since its establishment in 1999, the company has completed more than 1400 surrogacy cases. Around 2002, customers from all over the world have grown rapidly. Therefore, the company has hired translators in Chinese, French, German and other languages, which are its main customer sources at present.
'the number of customers from China has increased from about 1% in 2008 to 40% now. Most of them are company bosses. Recently, there are also some white-collar and gold collar employees. "Said Dong Mingzhao. Some wealthy customers from China will enter and leave the clinic to cover the whole clinic or ask a test tube doctor to meet in the hotel room to avoid being recognized. With the opening of the second child, older parents are applying more. 'the loss of independence group should be one of our customers, but customers usually don't want to talk about it. '
Liu Lin's surrogacy process was completed in California, and her new baby was about to be born. She had not seen the surrogate herself. Previously, the selection of surrogate mother and the contact with surrogate mother for production inspection were all completed through the network, and the signing of transplantation contract was also completed through the network and video recording, with intermediary check.
Claire said that California is rich in surrogate resources, and the process of surrogate operation is sound. After signing the contract, both parties have legal constraints and guarantees. For example, since the signing of the contract, surrogate lawyers have been involved. The fees paid by the client of surrogacy to the surrogacy agency, some of which exist in the trust fund account number, surrogate birth inspection, fuel and other fees