The recent news from China has revealed a major scandal is revolving around the topic of surrogacy. In January 2021, Nectar Gan wrote in her article for CCN that a popular Chinese actress Zheng Shuang was accused of abandoning two surrogate babies in the United States after breaking up with her boyfriend (Gan, 2021). While this incident occurred outside of China, it forced the country to confront the issue and evaluate all aspects of surrogacy.
It might seem like a distant issue that does not affect you, yet, as long as surrogacy remains allowed by law, women’s rights remain threatened. I would like to inform you about the ethical and physiological dangers of surrogacy that stand behind the reason for a strict ban on this practice imposed by the Chinese government. To prove my point, I will provide three primary reasons why Chinese people strongly oppose this practice.
Medical considerations are providing a substantial argument against surrogacy. In the 2018 review article in BioMed, Simopoulou et al. reveal that all types of traditional surrogacy can lead to severe health damage, ranging from spontaneous abortion and increased chromosomal abnormalities to induced infertility of a surrogate mother (Simopoulou et al., 2018). Patel et al. (2018) further describe the adverse aspects of surrogacy, showing that “many surrogate mothers face emotional problems after having to relinquish the child” (p. 214). Issues do not stop there, as pregnancy in itself is a complicated process that endangers a mother’s life.
Surrogacy poses a threat to women’s rights due to severe ethical issues. In her book, Sophie Lewis (2017) states that “baby commodities are a definite part of what gestational labor produces today” (p. 20). Jin-guo and Na Wang (2017) argue that surrogacy allows a woman to turn “the womb into a money-making machine” (p. 380). PÅ‚otka et al. (2018) highlight that this phenomenon “causes a devaluation of human life and parenthood,” as it corrupts the notion of blood bond (p. 712). Kristin Lozanski and Irene Shankar discuss how surrogacy can even lead to the return of women to a status of “an object” that can be “rented by prospective parents” (p. 44). Simply put, women will be encouraged to earn a living by sacrificing their health if surrogacy remains unopposed in our society.
Moreover, parents who are using surrogate mothers might lack the necessary attitude towards their children and behave irresponsibly. Katharina Beier (2018) discusses how children who are born to surrogate mothers can be a subject to “objectification and instrumentalization” from inadequate parents (p. 258). Moreover, surrogacy creates dangers to the well-being of a child since it prevents its parents from establishing an emotional connection with their kid prior to birth. Yiying Qiu (2021) argues that surrogacy is especially dangerous in China since it allows people to refuse to accept a girl since it might be considered “shameful” (p. 13). This practice is harmful to a society that relies heavily on family bonds.
In conclusion, surrogacy was banned in China because surrogacy exploits the health of surrogate mothers and harms their children, it turns human life into a product, damages women’s rights, and can be used by irresponsible people who are not ready to become parents. Surrogacy is already illegal in many countries, yet it is a highly profitable type of service in countries where it remains accessible. You might believe that this issue does not affect you. In his post on February 2021 in CGTN, Yang Jinghao points out that if this practice remains legal and highly profitable, then your friends or relatives, even your children, may one day resort to selling their health (Jinghao, 2021). Surrogacy has a lasting adverse impact on the life of a surrogate mother. Please, understand the disadvantages of surrogacy and oppose its usage from now on.
References
Beier, K. (2018). Ethical objections about surrogacy in German debates: A critical analysis. Cross-Cultural Comparisons on Surrogacy and Egg Donation, 255-276. Web.
Gan, N. (2021). Accused of abandoning two babies in the US, a Chinese celebrity sparks a national debate about surrogacy. CNN. Web.
Jinghao, Y. (2021). Surrogacy stirs up a heated debate in China. CGTN. Web.
Lewis, S. A. (2019). Full surrogacy now: Feminism against the family. Verso Books.
Lozanski, K., & Shankar, I. (2018). Surrogates as risk or surrogates at risk? The contradictory Constitution of surrogates’ bodies in transnational surrogacy. Social Theory & Health, 17(1), 40-56. Web.
Patel, N., Jadeja, Y., Bhadarka, H., Patel, M., Patel, N., & Sodagar, N. (2018). Insight into different aspects of surrogacy practices. Journal of Human Reproductive Sciences, 11(3), 212-218. Web.
PÅ‚otka, B., Ghenu, C. I., & Rezmer, K. (2018). Between market and morality: The case of surrogacy. CBU International Conference Proceedings, 6, 709-715. Web.
Qiu, Y. (2021). What are the current practices of surrogacy in China? 3rd International Conference on Future of Social Sciences.
Simopoulou, M., Sfakianoudis, K., Tsioulou, P., Rapani, A., Anifandis, G., Pantou, A., Bolaris, S., Bakas, P., Deligeoroglou, E., Pantos, K., & Koutsilieris, M. (2018). Risks in surrogacy considering the embryo: From the Preimplantation to the gestational and neonatal period. BioMed Research International, 2018, 1-9. Web.
Wang, J., & Wang, N. (2017). The problems and plight of surrogacy in our country. DEStech Transactions on Economics, Business and Management. Web.