While ART is viewed as an answered prayer for many, it has also fueled a billion-dollar global industry in which reproduction is increasingly commercialized, one that risks treating children not as gifts to be received from God, but as products to be manufactured and acquired.

What is Surrogacy?

Surrogacy is when a woman, the surrogate, carries and gives birth to a baby for the baby’s intended parent or parents. Simply put, a woman carries the baby, while another individual or family raises the child as their own. There are two kinds of surrogacy: gestational and traditional.

• Gestational surrogacy: The surrogate is not genetically related to the baby. An embryo made from the intended parents’ (or donors’) egg and sperm is placed in her uterus.
• Traditional surrogacy: The surrogate uses her own egg, so she is genetically related to the baby.^[1]

In both cases, in vitro fertilization (IVF) is used to create the embryos.

The Exploitative Surrogacy Story

In mid-December, an article with a striking title, “50 high-quality sons” was published. The article reports that Chinese elites, often wealthy businessmen, are using American commercial surrogacy services to produce large numbers of babies born in the United States.

One prominent example mentioned in the article is of Chinese billionaire Xu Bo. It was reported that he told a U.S. family court judge in 2023 that he hoped to have about 20 U.S. born boys through surrogacy.

But the story doesn’t end there.

The article further notes that a social media account operated by Xu stated that he aspired to have “50 high-quality sons,” and that his company has since boasted that he has allegedly paid to father more than 100 children through surrogacy arrangements in the United States.

According to the report, Xu and other wealthy Chinese individuals have paid surrogacy agencies, clinics, lawyers, and even nanny services to manage these arrangements, sometimes without ever visiting the United States themselves. The article describes this phenomenon as part of a growing “mega-family” trend among rich clients who can afford surrogacy costs that can reach roughly $200,000 per child.^[2]

How Did This Happen: Regulatory Gaps

This kind of story is the result of regulatory gaps that make large scale commercial surrogacy possible.

On the one hand, commercial surrogacy is illegal in China, but it is permitted in certain parts of the United States. As stated by Dr. Naman Araya, “laws surrounding surrogacy are incredibly diverse, constantly evolving, and highly dependent on each country’s legal, cultural, and ethical framework.”^[3]

On the other hand, there is a lack of regulation surrounding surrogacy within the United States. Multiple websites created to assist those looking into surrogacy explain this fact.

As of 2025, there are no comprehensive federal regulations governing the practice of surrogacy in the United States. It is the states who regulate surrogacy through statutes (legislation) and case law (court cases).^[4]

What about Georgia?

Georgia is one of the states in which surrogacy is unregulated. This means that within Georgia, the state law does not clearly address the enforceability of surrogacy contracts, compensation beyond expenses, or parental recognition at birth. In practice, people enter gestational surrogacy contracts in Georgia.^[5]

Despite this lack of clear oversight, ART is widely used in Georgia. In 2022, the state recorded more than 5,000 ART embryo transfers and over 2,500 live births, and the number of ART clinics has continued to grow since then.^[6]

Why Does This Matter?

These nation-wide legal gaps enable individuals who have substantial resources to exploit the surrogacy system. This is evident in the explosive stories coming out, and this is not a rare occurrence. Between 2014 and 2020, nearly one-third of embryo transfers to gestational carriers in the United States were for international intended parents.

• “Of 40,177 embryo transfers to a gestational carrier from 2014 to 2020, 32% were for international intended parents.”^[7]

Of these international intended parents, most were male (41.3% compared to 19.6%), over 42 years of age (33.9% compared to 26.2%), and Asian, with 41.7% coming from China.[8]

While these numbers should be concerning to all personhood advocates due to the extreme disregard for the dignity of human life on such a grand scale, it is particularly concerning since international commercial surrogacy also poses a national security risk.

As the Blaze News article clearly explained, “After all, Chinese men — the cohort most commonly exploiting the system — can deploy their U.S.-born, China-raised, and Chinese Communist Party-influenced children to advance Beijing’s interests in the United States.”[9]

Closing the Gaps

At a national level, politicians are beginning to respond to the danger of foreign commercial surrogacy. In November 2025, Sen. Rick Scott introduced a bill titled Stopping Adversarial Foreign Exploitation of Kids In Domestic Surrogacy Act” or “SAFE KIDS Act” for short. The bill came in part in response to another Chinese surrogacy scandal in Arcadia, California, in which 15 children — mostly under age three — were removed from the home of a former Chinese government official.[10]

The bill is designed to “prevent citizens of foreign adversarial nations from entering into or enforcing surrogacy contracts in the United States.” However, the bill has not progressed since November.[11]

Additionally, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments for and against an end to birthright citizenship. While this case did not originate due to commercial surrogacy concerns, it is likely that an end to birthright citizenship would vastly decrease international commercial surrogacy.

Conclusion

While ART has felt like an answered prayer for many, we should not close our eyes or allow these kinds of oversights to continue. Children, regardless of age, developmental stage, or environment, are unique human beings with inherent dignity and deserve protection from the moment of fertilization. We are called to examine the systems that profit from the suffering of those carrying the cross of infertility and strive to ensure that advances in ART respect the inherent dignity of human life.

Read Georgia Right to Life’s position statement on ART here.

Sources:

^[1] Surrogacy Definition
^[2] 50 high-quality sons | Blaze News
^[3] Surrogacy Laws by Country
^[4] Surrogacy Laws
^[5] Surrogacy Regulation by State
^[6] ART Surveillance | CDC
^[7] IVF/Surrogacy Study
[8] Ibid.
[9] 50 high-quality sons | Blaze News
[10] Arcadia, CA Surrogacy Scandal
[11] SAFE KIDS Act

Alondra Flores
Georgia Right to Life
Writer