Surrogacy, as the common saying goes, is "borrowing a womb to have a child." This behavior, which treads the fine line of legality, was once a taboo subject but now has been "priced openly" on some websites. Currently, in Wuhan alone, over a hundred women organized by a certain website have carried out surrogacies, with a significant number of them successfully becoming pregnant. Some children have just been born and were immediately taken away by their clients. Surrogates can receive up to 100,000 yuan from the time they start the surrogacy process until successful childbirth. Since the website's establishment six years ago, more than 2,000 successful surrogacies have been completed, and the company’s revenue has already exceeded hundreds of millions of yuan.
Public solicitation for "surrogates"
A certain surrogacy website in Wuhan openly solicits "surrogates," even rating the applicants. Those with higher education and better looks receive higher compensation, ranging from 40,000 to 100,000 yuan per person each time. How does this website operate? What do the surrogates and "clients" invest for the child? With the help of Zhang Jia, one of the "surrogate mothers," we get closer to this special group of people and understand the inside story of the surrogacy industry through them.
The website offers three types of surrogacy plans: A, B, and C, with the most expensive costing 600,000 yuan. They claim that in the six years since their founding, they have successfully completed over 2,000 surrogacies.
At around 8 AM, on the sidewalk in front of a residential area in Guanshan, several fashionably dressed young women stood out among the small vendors. More women kept arriving to gather. They greeted each other but rarely exchanged words, only occasionally looking into the distance.
When a woman wearing blue jeans appeared, the waiting young women quickly gathered around her. They complained in low voices, "Why hasn't the car come yet? I haven't eaten breakfast, I'm starving." Zhang Jia, standing far away, told reporters that the woman in blue jeans was an assistant to the deputy station master of the surrogacy website.
About half an hour later, a black Toyota minivan slowly pulled over by the roadside. Under the organization of the woman in blue jeans, nine young women scrambled onto the vehicle. The van turned into a small road, briefly stopped in front of a hotel, then drove straight to a hospital near East Lake.
The hospital was relatively secluded. The Toyota van stopped in front of a red-brick building at the farthest end of the hospital. As soon as the nine women got out of the car, another batch of young women came out of the red-brick building, got on the Toyota van, and quickly left the hospital.
The nine women entered a room without any signboard. At the entrance, there was a tall man guarding it. The room allowed only one person to enter and exit at a time, and slippers had to be changed. The examination process was quick, taking only a few minutes to complete.
After entering the corridor disguised as a companion of a surrogate, a man in a white coat came out. He asked the man guarding the door, "Why are there so many people today?" Then he returned to the room and closed the door. The examination room was less than 20 square meters. There was a curtain at the farthest corner, behind which was an iron-frame bed. Besides the surrogate and the man in a white coat, there was also a female nurse in the room.
"We lie on that bed for our examinations. The company has to pick up and drop off two batches of volunteers every morning," said Zhang Jia.
#### Case
Surrogate mother: Wang Yanfen
Exchanged her three-day-old son for 100,000 yuan
Three days later, Wang Yanfen's son will be taken away, in exchange for 100,000 yuan RMB. According to the agreement, Wang Yanfen will no longer be the mother of this child, and she won't even have the right to name him.
In the ward of a large hospital in Hongshan, reporter saw Wang Yanfen and her three-day-old baby boy. That day, three groups of people visited her, "Some of them I don't even know." Wang Yanfen suspected that the website brought other clients, "People see my success and then they want to try."
Wang Yanfen gave birth naturally, "I endured the pain for eight hours, at one point I didn't want to give birth anymore. When I heard the baby cry, I thought I was finally free, the year was finally over." Wang Yanfen said that the parents of the baby were a couple of overseas Chinese, who were still abroad, "The baby looks like his father, when I leave the hospital, they will take the baby away."
Until now, Wang Yanfen has only received 50,000 yuan, the remaining 50,000 will be paid by the website in one lump sum when the baby is taken away. "Even after carrying the baby for ten months, I still can't bear to part with him, but what can I do?" Judging by her accent, Wang Yanfen is from the north. She is 29 years old and not married yet. She said she chose surrogacy because her boyfriend needed heart surgery and her cancer-stricken mother needed money for chemotherapy. "If it wasn't for the money, who would secretly do this behind their family's back?"
Wang Yanfen stayed in a room just below a VIP room, costing 198 yuan per day. Since the third month of pregnancy, an aunt has been specially assigned to take care of her daily life. "It's too expensive to stay here, I want to leave the hospital as soon as possible."
In the ward, Wang Yanfen repeatedly reminded the reporter to speak softly, fearing others might hear that the child was an IVF baby. She was unwilling to talk more about topics related to surrogacy or the child, "It's inconvenient to talk here, let's talk after I leave the hospital."
Surrogate mother: Zhang Jia
Lying in bed for two months but failed to keep the fetus
For surrogacy or renting a uterus, Zhang Jia prefers to call herself a volunteer. Around Zhang Jia, there are more than 30 volunteers, mainly divided into three categories: one category is those who have had children and divorced; another category is like her, having a boyfriend but urgently needing money; and some are naive teenage girls.
In May this year, Zhang Jia came to Wuhan AA69 Surrogacy Company. On May 15th, Zhang Jia went to the hospital for the first check-up. The doctor who examined Zhang Jia was a male doctor around 40 years old. On July 26th, the doctor performed embryo transfer on Zhang Jia. After the transfer, the people from the website started taking her to a hospital at Jiroadkou for regular prenatal checks.
Because the implantation was unstable, the first three months are the most dangerous for IVF babies. "These months, I basically lay in bed, not daring to make big movements." Zhang Jia worried so much that she lost interest in cross-stitching. Every day, she ate and slept. "Sometimes I dreamed that my family came to find me, and woke up in tears."
Zhang Jia's main activities were going to the hospital for check-ups and going downstairs to buy groceries. "Sometimes the security guards in the neighborhood would ask me what I do for work, staying home every day and living so comfortably." Zhang Jia always laughed helplessly.
From the start of the examination to the embryo transfer, Zhang Jia had to inject hormones every day to adjust her endocrine system. After the successful transfer, she had to inject a needle to protect the fetus every day. To ensure the success of the surrogacy, in more than two months, Zhang Jia injected 62 needles, "My butt is full of holes, my endocrine system is out of balance, and my face has many pimples." On September 14th, during a hospital check-up, Zhang Jia found that the fetus had stopped developing. Two days later, she aborted the child.
Zhang Jia's client was from Shenzhen. Before the transfer, Zhang Jia met the client once, "The couple were both over 40, very kind, and called me 'little sister' upon meeting." After the transfer, the client gave her 500 yuan, telling her to buy more fruits. During the pregnancy, the client sent her text messages every day, but after losing the child, the client never contacted her again.
Surrogate mother: Wu Li
Gave birth, took the money, and disappeared
Wu Li is from Guizhou. The 27-year-old has a four-year-old daughter and has been divorced for two years. She now has a new boyfriend. Before this spring, Wu Li knew nothing about surrogacy. While on a train to Jiangsu to visit a friend, Wu Li heard someone say that surrogating a child could earn her 100,000 yuan. Immediately, she made contact with them privately. "I couldn't save more than 10,000 yuan a year working before. I've given birth to a child, so I should be quite experienced." After arriving in Jiangsu, Wu Li immediately looked up information about surrogacy online and found the "China Baby Network Surrogacy Company" in Shenzhen.
Wu Li stayed in Shenzhen for half a month, but her body was never checked. The rule of the Shenzhen surrogacy company was that clients had to choose volunteers first before conducting physical examinations. In the half a month in Shenzhen, no client selected Wu Li. Wu Li then contacted Chen Ting, the executive vice-station master of the "AA69 Surrogacy Network" in Wuhan, "She told me to come over immediately, saying there were many volunteers here."
After Wu Li arrived in Wuhan, Chen Ting immediately took her for a check-up. "During the check-up, my uterine lining was the thickest. One client saw my health report and immediately designated me." The client who chose Wu Li was also from Shenzhen, 42 years old, with two daughters and one son, and the oldest child was already in college.
Wu Li's embryo transfer surgery was very successful. However, two months later, the doctor told her that there was only a gestational sac in her uterus, no embryonic bud or fetal heartbeat, and the fetus had stopped developing and miscarried naturally. But Wu Li was luckier than Zhang Jia and quickly received 10,000 yuan in compensation.
After returning to her hometown in Guizhou for ten days, Wu Li came back to Wuhan, "I want to make some money and then open a store with my daughter." Wu Li is still hiding this from her family and boyfriend, "If they knew, they would definitely beat me to death."
"It's very comfortable here. You don't have to do anything, you can make money while staying at home. Where else can you find such a good job?" After her body recovers for a while, Wu Li wants to go for another check-up and have the embryo transferred as soon as possible. Surrogacy is no longer news, "I won't develop feelings for the child in my belly. Once the child is born, I'll take the money and leave."