(Ecns.cn) – A surrogacy agency that claims to be the only legal one in the country has started to solicit business through its website in Ningbo, reported Zhejiang Online Wednesday.
In early November, a local resident made a phone call to Zhejiang Online and reported an illegal agency offering surrogate motherhood for babies born after using IVF treatment, artificial insemination or natural pregnancy.
Following an investigation, it was found that the agency had launched the website this year, and was in fact linking prospective parents with surrogate mothers in a seemingly professional manner. The costs range from 350,000 yuan to 600,000 yuan ($54,110 to $92,760), but if the customer requires the agency to guarantee the gender of the baby (usually male), he or she may have to pay even more.
A staff member of the agency going under the name Wang revealed that all of their surrogate mothers were required to be less than 35 years old, and are mostly young ladies between 20 and 30. The youngest is a 19-year-old who just graduated from high school, he added.
Customers are free to select a surrogate mother from a list via interview, said Wang. After signing the contract, the agency will take care of the selected mother's accommodation and daily life during the service period.
Wang also noted that the agency releases recruitment notices and updates information about surrogate mothers from time to time on its website. He pointed out a section that links couples suffering from infertility with qualified surrogate mothers, which he said has brought happiness to many couples.
China released its Measures on Administration of Assisted Human Reproduction Technology in 2001. Since then, hospitals have been prohibited from doing in vitro fertilization for surrogacy purposes. Nevertheless, a large-scale black market surrogacy industry exists in the country today.
