Some American states have banned commercial surrogacy but this has not stopped wealthy Chinese citizens, single or gay individuals or even infertile couples, to turn to American surrogates. And those looking for surrogates in the Unites States are flocking in California, thanks to the state's favorable laws and reliable physicians.
Dianna Barindelli of Modesto, California already has two young daughters but has agreed to become a surrogate first in 2012 because she still wanted to get pregnant. She belongs to an exclusive surrogate agency in Encino known as the Center for Surrogate Parenting. She became a surrogate for a Chinese couple again in 2014 and recently to a Taiwanese couple, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The rising demand for surrogates has been blamed on China's one-child policy, which forced wealthy Chinese couples to turn to foreign surrogates so they could still spawn male children while circumventing the policy. In January this year, China changed tactics and implemented a two-child policy to save the country and the economy from its aging population but while it initially banned surrogates, ConceiveAbilities said the main law-making body of China reversed this prohibition draft but unfortunately, it is still in effect as implemented by the Health Ministry.
Foreign surrogacy has proven to be a big business as it can cost as much as $120,000 but wealthy Chinese are willing to pay the price to be able to conceive a child who would be entitled to a U.S. citizenship. Reuters said it is actually an investment for Chinese families who dream of someday immigrating to the United States when their children turn 21 and become eligible to get Green Cards for them.
Even though there is no actual data on the rising demand of Chinese for American surrogates, this is evident with the decision of fertility and surrogacy clinics and agencies in the U.S. to employ people who can speak Mandarin and to include Chinese translations for their websites. John Weltman, president of the Circle Surrogacy in Boston said they have handled six surrogacy cases for the Chinese in the past five years and expect this to double in the next months.
