A 17-year-old girl has reportedly served as a surrogate mother, giving birth to twins for a 50-year-old man, sparking discussions.
As the case involved a hospital based in South China’s Zhongshan city in Guangdong Province, China National Radio (CNR) reported on Tuesday that the local health department had conducted a preliminary investigation, confirming the birth and stating that relevant authorities have already intervened.
The staff of the local authorities also told CNR that when the girl arrived at the hospital, she was already in labor. She insisted that she had not been coerced and provided information about the children’s father, along with undergoing facial recognition verification.
Currently, after learning about the situation, the local health bureau in Zhongshan has launched an investigation at the relevant hospital and will update the public as soon as the verification is complete.
On Tuesday, the Women’s Federation in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, the girl’s registered residence in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, told Shanghai-based media outlet The Paper that it had been assisting relevant authorities in the investigation and verification process. The federation is also providing support to the girl’s family.
Anti-human trafficking volunteer nicknamed Shangguan Zhengyi, who shared the case on China’s Sina Weibo on Monday, told The Paper that he had been monitoring the Guangzhou-based medical consulting service company involved in this case for quite some time.
According to the company’s sales staff, the price of egg donors is linked to their educational background: around 100,000 yuan ($13794) for those with a bachelor’s degree and approximately 150,000 yuan ($20691) for those with a master’s degree, with their credentials verifiable on the official academic database.
The salesperson also shared a recent successful case handled by the company to dispel Shangguan Zhengyi’s doubts.
According to Shangguan, the salesperson sent him another client’s agreement, which promised a guaranteed baby gender selection, signed between a medical equipment company in Guangzhou and a person surnamed Long.
The document recorded details such as the egg donor’s name, pricing, and the pregnancy method.
The total cost of egg donation and surrogacy specified in the agreement was 730,000 yuan. However, Long ended up paying over 900,000 yuan for twins, according to The Paper.
The salesperson also sent Shangguan two copies of birth certificates. These documents showed that the two male Infants were born on February 2, 2025 in a hospital in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province. The father was a 50-year-old man surnamed Long from East China’s Jiangxi Province, and the mother was a 17-year-old girl from Southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
Shangguan condemned the case, stating that the girl was only 16 years old when the embryo was implanted into her body and just 17 when she gave birth. He asserted that using underage girls for surrogacy violates the law, ethics, and morality and should be severely punished.
When the journalist from The Paper contacted the local health bureau in Zhongshan for information, a staff member stated that there was no relevant registration and suggested inquiring with the hospital. However, a staff member from the involved hospital responded,
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We are not aware of this and have not heard about it.
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On the same day, a staff member from the Guangzhou Health Commission told The Paper that they are currently verifying the situation.
Source: Global Times, Weibo, CNR, The Paper
