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在线翻译:
szdaily -> In depth -> 
Policymakers drop legal ban on surrogacy
    2015-12-29  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

    A PROPOSED legal ban on the use of pregnancy surrogates has been scrapped after lawmakers raised objections over the effectiveness of such a move, it was announced Sunday.

    Officials had initially included the ban in a draft amendment to the nation’s Law on Population and Family Planning. Yet after a routine review, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the top legislature, removed the provision before approving the final draft Sunday.

    Other amendments in the approved draft include allowing couples to have two children and extending maternity leave for mothers who abide by the law. The revised law comes into effect Friday.

    “Some members of the standing committee argued that surrogacy cannot be totally forbidden,” Zhang Chunsheng, head of legal affairs for the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said at a news conference Sunday to explain why the proposed ban had been dropped. Even with a law in place, “rich people would still be able to go abroad to countries where surrogacy is allowed,” he said.

    The commission already has regulations forbidding the use of pregnancy surrogates. However, it called for the ban to be written into law to enhance enforcement in tackling those who still offer such services.

    Despite the regulations, issued in 2001 by the Ministry of Health, now part of the commission, the practice has survived underground in many parts of China.

    Zhang said those who offer surrogacy services can make huge profits and that a ban would have ensured “the healthy operation of the healthcare sector.”

    Wang Mingwen, a law professor at Xichang College in Sichuan Province, was quoted by Guangming Daily as saying that surrogacy is in demand in China due to rising infertility rates. He said he was against an outright ban and instead urged authorities to introduce detailed rules for assisted reproduction.

    However, Li Huijuan, a lawyer with Zhonglun W&D Law Firm in Beijing, said, “Removing the ban (from the final draft) could give room for the practice, and cases of surrogacy may increase sharply.” Allowing unregulated surrogacy to continue is detrimental to the protection of women’s rights, she said.

    A week after China’s announcement on the second child policy in October, several surrogacy agencies in Beijing said there has been an increase in the number of people reaching out to them about having a second child through a surrogate, according to the Global Times.

    Surrogacy was officially banned in China after a ruling in 2001 that no medical organizations or personnel would be allowed to be involved in any form of surrogacy. Violators faced a fine of up to 30,000 yuan (US$4,730) and had to bear criminal responsibility.

    However, many surrogacy agencies continue to operate, with many of them arguing that the law only banned hospitals and medical organizations from engaging in surrogacy but did not ban surrogacy organizations or agencies.

    In Shenzhen, clients have to pay between 600,000 and 2 million yuan for a complete package — from medical checks to delivering the baby — according to a health care company that was caught illegally providing surrogacy-related services.(SD-Agencies)

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