Octuplets' parents may face big fines
By Claire Wang |
December 21, 2011, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE parents who had eight babies due to fertility treatments in southern China's Guangdong Province may face hefty fines for violating the country's family-planning policies, authorities said.
The octuplets were delivered by the wife and two surrogate mothers separately, but the births should be ruled as running afoul of the country's policy and the parents should be fined, the New Express Daily reported yesterday, citing Zhang Feng, director of the Guangdong Family Planning Commission.
Under Chinese law, most families having more than one child are required to pay penalties. The couple chose in vitro fertilization to conceive babies after other options failed.
In order to ensure a high success rate, they transferred eight embryos into the uterus of the wife and two surrogate mothers. All eight embryos survived and the octuplets were born in October 2010.
The wealthy family hired 11 nannies and a driver to take care of the babies. They reportedly spent 1 million yuan (US$157,522) on the test-tube procedure and are spending more than 100,000 yuan each month on raising them.
Health authorities in Guangdong have begun an investigation into the surrogacy agency and the hospital that helped the couple conceive so many babies, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday. China has banned surrogacy since 2003.
Meanwhile, 38 medical institutions, all of which have obtained licenses for human assisted-reproduction technology services in Guangdong, will be investigated to determine whether they have been involved in illegal activities, including buying and selling gametes or embryos, providing surrogacy services, using non-certificated sperm, or checking the gender of fetuses without permission, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Any violations will be punished seriously, the health department said.
Despite the ban, there is a thriving black market in which wealthy infertile families hire egg donors or surrogate mothers. Zhang admitted it's difficult to calculate how many agencies are doing it. Under current regulations, the agency could face fines of up to 30,000 yuan but there is no penalty meted out for surrogate mothers.
Some surrogacy agencies charge 1 million yuan and have five to seven surrogate mothers become pregnant by the customer's sperm all at once, simply to ensure one of the babies is a boy. The other fetuses are aborted.
The octuplets were delivered by the wife and two surrogate mothers separately, but the births should be ruled as running afoul of the country's policy and the parents should be fined, the New Express Daily reported yesterday, citing Zhang Feng, director of the Guangdong Family Planning Commission.
Under Chinese law, most families having more than one child are required to pay penalties. The couple chose in vitro fertilization to conceive babies after other options failed.
In order to ensure a high success rate, they transferred eight embryos into the uterus of the wife and two surrogate mothers. All eight embryos survived and the octuplets were born in October 2010.
The wealthy family hired 11 nannies and a driver to take care of the babies. They reportedly spent 1 million yuan (US$157,522) on the test-tube procedure and are spending more than 100,000 yuan each month on raising them.
Health authorities in Guangdong have begun an investigation into the surrogacy agency and the hospital that helped the couple conceive so many babies, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday. China has banned surrogacy since 2003.
Meanwhile, 38 medical institutions, all of which have obtained licenses for human assisted-reproduction technology services in Guangdong, will be investigated to determine whether they have been involved in illegal activities, including buying and selling gametes or embryos, providing surrogacy services, using non-certificated sperm, or checking the gender of fetuses without permission, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Any violations will be punished seriously, the health department said.
Despite the ban, there is a thriving black market in which wealthy infertile families hire egg donors or surrogate mothers. Zhang admitted it's difficult to calculate how many agencies are doing it. Under current regulations, the agency could face fines of up to 30,000 yuan but there is no penalty meted out for surrogate mothers.
Some surrogacy agencies charge 1 million yuan and have five to seven surrogate mothers become pregnant by the customer's sperm all at once, simply to ensure one of the babies is a boy. The other fetuses are aborted.
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