Let’s call it biological colonialism in reverse: Chinese couples are using IVF and rented American wombs to make new US citizens when the baby is born here. From the Global Times story:

West Coast Surrogacy, in California, has worked with about 40 Chinese clients, with 70 percent of their clients now coming from China. Lee Truong, in charge of international relations at Surrogate Alternatives, founded in 1998 in San Diego, says they have seen a significant increase in Chinese clients in the last 18 months. “This year, about a third of our clients are from China, and of the babies already born and those still due in 2012, more than 30 percent are children of Chinese parents,” Truong told the Global Times in an e-mail.Lauri de Brito, vice president of California-based Agency for Surrogacy Solutions, says the agency has seen about 10 Chinese couples since 2004, with most coming over in the past two years. The agency handles about 40 to 50 cases each year.

Most agencies and clinics contacted by the Global Times gave an average 70 percent success rate across all surrogacies but noted this could vary according to a number of factors. High success rates and legitimacy are probably what draw patients from all over the world to the US, although American citizenship for their children is certainly an added plus for the Chinese parents, said de Brito.

IVF clinics are getting rich peddling commercialized and consumerist procreation. Some are now happily participating in a scheme to make new American citizens by using surrogacy to establish anchor babies. The time is overdue to regulate this industry.

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Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Special Consultant to the CBC
Wesley J. Smith, J.D., Special Consultant to the CBC