Koh Ewe | Vice | March 19, 2021
This article discusses the interconnectedness of surrogacy and the LGBTQ community in China. After actress Zheng Shuang’s scandal, surrogacy has garnered newfound attention and vehement scrutiny due to illegality in China as well as attention to the rights of women. LGBTQ couples voiced their worries about the negative perceptions of surrogacy impacting their ability to start families and affecting their recent progress towards societal acceptance.
Kate Baklitskaya and Magdalena Chodownik | New Eastern Europe | March 15, 2021
This article highlights the need for stricter regulation of surrogacy and egg donation in Ukraine and Poland, underscored by additional risks presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Early travel bans left many newborns stranded in Ukraine, and the current economic decline may be motivating more women to sell their eggs for extra income. However, Ukraine and Poland have not developed legislation to protect egg donors’ safety and privacy.
Christina Weis | BioNews | March 15, 2021
This commentary addresses the recent bill amendment, proposed by the Russian State Duma, which would restrict surrogacy to heterosexual married couples with Russian residency. Current law allows heterosexual unmarried couples and single mothers, regardless of residency status, to pursue commercial surrogacy. A co-author of the bill said the restrictive amendment is motivated by last year’s COVID-19 lockdowns and travel bans, which prevented many foreign clients from collecting their surrogacy-born newborns. The Moscow Times also speculates that allowing single men and women to hire surrogates goes against Russian family values.
Tzci Joffre | Jerusalem Post | March 12, 2021
This article provides an update on Israeli surrogacy law: the High Court had sent back the latest amendment to the government after deeming it unconstitutional for failing to include single men and same-sex couples. LGBTQ activists have been advocating for changes to the law for 11 years. Most recently the government again attempted to avoid the issue, allegedly to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, but the Court granted the government only a four-month extension to July 1, after the upcoming March 23 elections.
Carter Sherman | Vice | March 9, 2021
Many intended parents are asking agencies to match them with surrogates who agree not to get a COVID vaccine, despite the fact that contracting COVID during pregnancy could increase the risk of severity of the illness and also lead to pre-term birth. The article discusses the importance of communicating about the vaccine prior to entering into a contract, and raises the issue of the power differential between intended parents’ requirements in a contract and a surrogate’s ability to maintain bodily autonomy.
Vice | March 18, 2021
Surrogacy and LGBTQ+ rights both lie in a legally grey area in China. Same sex couples in China who want to have a child sometimes seek surrogates and fertility treatment abroad––which involves prohibitive cost.
Phoebe Zhang | South China Morning Post | March 8, 2021
This article shares policy topics about women that will be discussed at Two Sessions, China’s yearly parliamentary meetings held in Beijing. A member of the National People’s Congress proposed a stricter ban on surrogacy and the use of underground and overseas agencies to address the recent commercial boom, especially in light of the scandal of actress Zheng Shuang. The two political parties will also discuss the treatment of children born outside of marriage, single mothers’ lack of access to assistive reproductive technologies, and a hotline to report domestic violence.
Caitlin Ashworth | The Thaiger | February 7, 2021
This article highlights an illegal Thai surrogacy ring posing as a cleaning company, with 3 alleged agents and 4 alleged surrogates arrested so far. Cybercrime police discovered the ring when foreign intended parents were unable to retrieve the babies because of coronavirus travel restrictions. International surrogacy is illegal in Thailand, so the women were brought to Cambodia for embryo transfer and returned to Thailand for the duration of the pregnancy and birth. Allegedly, Thai women were lured in through social media and then paid over 500,000 baht (about 17,000 USD) each to bear children for foreign buyers.
Global Times | January 20, 2021
Zheng Shuang, a popular actress in China, has been vilified by politicians and the public after her boyfriend claimed on social media that she had abandoned him and their two surrogate-born children in the U.S. This case has received a great deal of Chinese publicity due to Zheng’s high profile along with the illegality of surrogacy in China. Some experts are expressing concerns about the objectification of women through surrogacy and the thriving underground surrogacy market in China.
Annie Szatkowski | FOX 17 West Michigan | January 19, 2021
This article focuses on Tammy and Jordan Myers, a Michigan couple whose request for parental rights to their twin biological children born via a gestational carrier were denied by two judges. Under current state law, the couple will have to adopt the children. Michigan law prohibits all surrogacy, including arrangements without compensation. The couple hopes that the State legislature will introduce a fertility bill this year allowing intended parents of children born through surrogacy to more easily gain parental rights.
