Surrogacy Racket, Exploiting Chinese Speech-Impaired, Disabled Women, Busted

Authorities have launched an investigation into a surrogacy racket in a Chinese village where speech-impaired and disabled women were used as surrogate mothers. 

Anti-trafficking activist Shangguan Zhengyi exposed the racket on May 12. Zhengyi spent days observing a suspicious cottage in Changsha, Hunan province, central China, before alerting the authorities, the South China Morning Post reported.

A three-story residential building reportedly served as the headquarters for the racket. During their raid, police found 16 hospital beds used for treatments related to surrogacy.

The first floor served as the primary operating centre and housed the operating room, laboratory, and patient wards. The building's windows were all covered with blue film so that no one could see what was happening inside, the report added.

The operating area was equipped with shelves that held needles and other specialised tools and equipment for surgical procedures like embryo transfer and egg retrieval.

Several vehicles, including an unlicensed white van, were parked near the entrance. The vehicles were assumed to have been used to carry the women.

Nine women were saved during the investigation and brought to Changsha Women and Children's Health Care Hospital for medical examination.

A 41-year-old speech-impaired surrogate mother from Shaanxi province informed Zhengyi via sign language that she had received 280,000 yuan (US$39,000) for an embryo transfer.

Another 29-year-old Yi woman, from the southern Chinese province of Sichuan, claimed to have received 190,000 yuan (US$26,000) for an embryo transfer.

Later, these women were handed over to the government officials and their family members.

Local health officials announced on May 12 that the issue would be handled strictly in compliance with the law, that the facility in question had been sealed, and that the necessary staff were now under official control.

The authorities also said that 18 people, including the person in charge, an anaesthesiologist, and a private hospital nurse, have been arrested for their involvement with the illegal surrogacy racket.

In November 2024, a 22-year-old Chinese woman's story of being tricked into an illegal surrogacy business and then miscarrying went viral.