US surrogacy industry flourishes as Chinese parents drive demand, says researcher.
The “rent-a-womb” industry pipelines children born of surrogates in the United States to parents in China, a researcher said. Babies born this way automatically gain U.S. birthright citizenship.
According to Emma Waters, a research associate for the Center for Life, Religion, and Family at The Heritage Foundation, the Chinese “rent-a-womb” industry has been booming in the United States for about a decade, particularly in California. The state’s permissive laws on commercial surrogacy and in-vitro fertilization (IVF) have made it an attractive destination for Chinese couples seeking these services.
Surrogacy is completely banned in China, so Chinese couples turn to American fertility clinics to create embryos with their biological makeup and have the baby in the United States. This is made possible by the birthright citizenship laws, which grant the child full U.S. citizenship, regardless of their Chinese nationality.
Emma Waters explained in an interview on Epoch TV’s “Crossroads” program that when the child turns 21, even the parents can apply for a green card and eventually obtain citizenship, which is a faster and cheaper process compared to traditional methods.
Threat to National Security
Giving foreign nationals full access to American citizenship through the wombs of American women poses a significant national security threat, according to Ms. Waters.
She emphasized that these children, who have been raised in China and are loyal to their homeland, are not flagged as foreign nationals when they come to the United States. This lack of awareness about their background can be problematic when they apply for jobs in government or the private sector.
Ms. Waters highlighted the need for the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party to investigate Chinese investment in Americans through Chinese children created in America by IVF and commercial surrogacy.
How Fertility Industry Works
Chinese nationals seeking fertility services in the United States have the option to create an embryo using their own sperm and egg or purchase a sperm or egg, explained Ms. Waters.
While many Chinese couples travel to the United States, it is technically possible to create an embryo without leaving China. They can work with a U.S.-based agency to send their reproductive material to an IVF lab and have it implanted in a hired surrogate in the United States.
Ms. Waters noted that there are numerous fertility clinics, particularly in California, with direct or indirect connections to China. These clinics often offer Chinese language options and have doctors or administrators who have lived in China.
She also mentioned that some fertility clinics have reported that up to 50 percent of their clients in a given year are from China alone.
According to Business Wire, the U.S. market for fertility clinic services was estimated at nearly $8 billion in 2022 and is expected to more than double by the end of 2028.
Changing Essence of Childbearing
Emma Waters explained that the way childbearing is viewed in the United States started changing after the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Roe v. Wade case in 1973, which legalized abortion nationwide. Children became seen as an option that parents could choose to have or not, rather than a natural outcome of marriage or sexual intercourse.
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