2025-12-24 15:00
publication
2025-12-24 15:00
Chinese billionaires and elites are hiring surrogate mothers in the US to give birth to large numbers of American children, reports the Wall Street Journal. The newspaper mentions, among others: the case of a businessman who claims to have over a hundred children who are US citizens.
According to the daily, the practice of wealthy Chinese hiring surrogate mothers in the US to give birth to children has been going on for years, and its scale is so large that it has spawned a dynamically developing “mini-industry” consisting of surrogacy agencies, law firms, in vitro clinics, nanny services, and even people who pick up newborns from hospitals.
“Thanks to this, parents can send their genetic material abroad and bring the child back, which costs up to $200,000 per child,” writes the daily.
The market is expected to develop so well that it has attracted influential investors, including a controversial right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, who is to support a network of IVF clinics in Southeast Asia, and most recently in Los Angeles.
Journalists describe, among others: the case of computer game creator Xu Bo, who, during a virtual court appearance in 2023 regarding an application for a surrogacy permit, allegedly stated that he wanted to have 20 children born in this way. On his website there is information that Xu is the father of more than 100 American children born via surrogate mothers in the United States. Although his 2023 application was rejected by the court, the newspaper notes that this is rare.
According to “WSJ”, Xu's case is not an isolated one. As Nathan Zhang, founder and president of IVF USA, a network of infertility clinics in the US and Mexico that serves wealthy Chinese, told the daily, previously his clientele consisted mainly of parents trying to get around China's one-child policy (abolished in 2015), but his new clients are following Elon Musk's example.
An increasing number of “crazy rich” clients are outsourcing their pregnancies to dozens or even hundreds of surrogates in the U.S. with the goal of “creating an unstoppable family dynasty,” Zhang said. He mentioned the case of one businessman who wanted to have 200 children this way, but Zhang refused.
However, another agency owner in California told the newspaper that he helped fulfill the order of a Chinese man who wanted to father 100 children. According to “WSJ”, some of the agency's clients do not even have to come to the United States.
The laws of most states do not prohibit this practice. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees U.S. citizenship for almost every child born in the United States. US President Donald Trump, on the first day of his second term, issued an order narrowing this right, but its action was suspended until the Supreme Court considers it. However, it is unclear whether, even if the legality of the decree were confirmed, it would apply to surrogate children.
Already in 2020, the Trump administration issued instructions to deny visas to women suspected of intending to travel to give birth to a child in the US. It was a reaction to a popular practice, among others. among Russian women.
According to WSJ, investigators from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have interviewed some of the surrogates involved in the operation, but it is unclear what the purpose of their investigation is.
From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)
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