BEIJING (SCMP): A Chinese village at the centre of an illegal surrogacy racket in which disabled women were used as surrogate mothers has sparked public outrage and an official probe.
The racket was exposed on May 12 by an anti-trafficking activist called Shangguan Zhengyi, who has more than 424,000 followers on social media.
The activist alerted the authorities after spending several days monitoring a suspicious cottage in Changsha, Hunan province, central China.
Police raided the property and discovered 16 hospital beds set up for surrogacy-related procedures.
Nine women, including surrogate mothers and egg donors, were found inside the facility.
One of the surrogate mothers, a 41-year-old deaf woman, from Shaanxi province in northwestern China, used sign language and told Shangguan that she had undergone an embryo transfer for which she was paid 280,000 yuan (US$39,000).
She said intermediaries had brought her to the facility, though she could not recall how long she had been there.
Another woman, a 29-year-old from the Yi ethnic minority originally from Sichuan province in southwestern China, said she underwent an embryo transfer for 190,000 yuan (US$26,000).
She said that the procedure was performed without anaesthesia, but claimed she felt no pain.
The racket was run out of a three-storey residential building. The first floor served as the main operational hub and included an operating room, a laboratory, and patient wards.
The operating room was fitted with shelves which were stocked with medical tools and equipment, including syringes, and other specialised devices used for procedures such as egg retrieval and embryo transfer.
All the windows of the building were covered with blue film to prevent anyone from seeing what was going on inside.
Several cars were parked at the entrance, including an unlicensed white van which is believed to have been used to transport the women.
During the investigation, a total of nine women were rescued and taken to the Changsha Women and Children Health Care Hospital for medical assessment.
They were later released into the care of government officials and their families.
At present, China does not have a specific law that outright bans surrogacy, but various government regulations prohibit the practice.
On May 12, local health authorities reported that the facility involved had been sealed, relevant staff had been placed under official control, and the case would be handled in strict accordance with the law.
The authorities have also confirmed the detention of 18 individuals linked to the surrogacy ring, including the person in charge, an anaesthesiologist, and a nurse from a private hospital.
Later, Shangguan received a call from a man claiming to be in charge of the surrogacy operation, who offered to meet him and said: “Whatever requests you have, I will fulfil them.”
Shangguan angrily responded: “How dare you exploit disabled people? Do you have any humanity left?”
The case, reported by Elephant News, has sparked condemnation across mainland social media platforms.
“Even disabled individuals were involved. This is completely beyond the boundaries of morality,” one commenter wrote.
Another person said: “Is there a flow of illicit benefits behind this? The big boss must be thoroughly investigated and severely punished.” - South China Morning Post
