China's first 'surrogate mother' website a hit

PTI / Feb 16, 2006, 11:44 IST

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China's first 'surrogate mother' website-a panacea for childless couples -- is growing in its popularity despite legal and ethical concerns.

China's first 'surrogate mother' website a hit

BEIJING: China's first 'surrogate mother' website-a panacea for childless couples -- is growing in its popularity despite legal and ethical concerns.
The site, www.aa69.com, which opened in January 2004, promises to find infertile couples suitable surrogate mums who are willing to carry the couples' babies through artificial insemination.
The website now has 13 regional agents across the country to recruit candidates and handle requests from potential clients, and had attracted more than 245,000 hits yesterday, 'China Daily' reported.
Applicants to become surrogate mothers, which the website calls "volunteers," are required to be aged below 32, have a minimum height of 157 cm, be in good health, and with no history of abortion, severe myopia, or addictions to alcohol or smoking.

The costs of surrogate mother services range from 40,000 yuan (5,000 US dollars) to over 100,000 yuan (12,500 US dollars), depending on their educational background and appearance, according to the reference prices posted on the website.
...The couples involved are also required to cover the maintenance and medical fees of the surrogate mothers during the pregnancy period.
"We keep the personal information of volunteers and the clients confidential and neither side knows the other's information throughout their lifetime," 'China Daily' quoted the website's Beijing region agent surnamed Wang as saying.

The agent refused to reveal how the artificial insemination process was conducted, on grounds of commercial secret.
"Anything related to the medical operation will be conducted by authorized medical institutions and we merely serve as a broker between the couples and the surrogate mothers," he added.
Lu Jinfeng, founder and owner of the website, was not available for comment. He told local media earlier this year that the service has helped about 200 couples to have babies.
The growth of the website has been marked by controversy. The Ministry of Health issued the Administrative Measures for Human Auxiliary Reproduction Technology in 2001, forbidding unauthorised institutions to conduct any auxiliary reproduction activities.
..."It is illegal for a website to provide surrogate reproduction technologies," said Du Liyuan, a lawyer with the Beijing Zhongsheng Law Firm.
"But there is not a clear stipulation against surrogate mother contracts that do not involve reproduction technology matters, although they are ethically controversial," he said.
Du warned that disputes over support, inheritance and other family issues could arise in the future because of the surrogate mother service.
The website was reportedly shut down by local police in Suzhou, a city in eastern China's Jiangsu province, in January 2005, but soon resumed after police ruled the website was just a broker service and was not about reproductive technology.
The website's base moved to Wuhan in central China's Hubei province last year.

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