A new surrogacy website designed to connect Chinese citizens with American egg donors, sperm donors, and surrogates flagrantly exposes many of the inherent problems of the surrogacy industry.

Key Takeaways:

• Expecting.Ai recently launched; it is a website catering to Chinese "intended parents seeking U.S. surrogacy options."

• The database allows Chinese citizens to filter American surrogates by a number of factors, including age, BMI, race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, and price.

• Surrogacy is outlawed in China, yet an unregulated international industry allows Chinese parents to utilize surrogates in other countries.

• There have been a number of surrogacy scandals over the past few years involving Chinese parents.

• Surrogacy disregards the children who are created in the process, focusing only on the adults' wants and desires.

The Details:

In a July press release, Expecting.Ai, which is based in Israel, announced the launch of "the largest Chinese-language surrogate database designed for intended parents seeking U.S. surrogacy options. At launch, the database includes hundreds of ready-to-match surrogate profiles from vetted U.S. surrogacy agencies across the country." It continues:

The new Chinese-language database allows intended parents from China and Chinese-speaking families worldwide to review U.S. surrogate profiles, understand key profile details, and inquire about specific surrogates directly through the Expecting.Ai platform.

One of the site's features is Aimee, described as "an AI-powered fertility assistant designed specifically for third-party reproduction."

On the platform, visitors can browse egg donors, sperm donors, and surrogate parents, viewing pictures and profile information much the same way one would shop for a new pet.

Though there is an English version for American users, the site's primary focus is a Chinese language portal meant to cater to Chinese citizens seeking an American surrogate. The company's press release cited a 2024 study published in Fertility and Sterility, which found that Chinese parents accounted for 41.7% of all international surrogate contracts with American women from 2014 to 2020.

"Surrogacy is already a complex and emotional journey, and language should not be an additional barrier," said Nadav Raanan, CEO of Expecting.Ai. "With hundreds of ready-to-match surrogate profiles now available in Chinese, intended parents from China and Chinese-speaking families can review their options clearly and take the next step with greater confidence."

Why It Matters:

Surrogacy is illegal in China, yet because it is a widely unregulated practice internationally, Chinese citizens can search abroad for wombs to rent and babies to purchase.

Josh Wood, executive director at Them Before Us, highlighted many of the website's problems in an X thread. Wood points to the "Chinese storefront," which allows users to filter available American women by a number of factors, including age, BMI, race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, and price.

"The site also recruits the supply," he noted. "A quiz on their landing page tells women how much they can make by renting their womb: four questions, instant quote."

Over the past several years, there have been several high-profile cases in which Chinese residents have exploited American surrogates, and the children they create. These stories include:

• A Florida woman fighting for custody after the Chinese man who hired her as a surrogate failed to pick up his triplets after they were born. Now, after almost two years, he is fighting to retrieve the children. In the meantime, they have been taken from the only home they've ever known and placed in foster care.

• A Chinese billionaire who has fathered at least 100 children using American surrogates.

• A surrogacy agency in California labeled a national security threat after seeking out women to be surrogates without any intended parents. Many of the babies were allegedly being taken to China.

The situation has grown so serious that last year, Florida Senator Rick Scott introduced the SAFE KIDS Act, to limit international surrogacy exploitation. The act would prevent surrogacy contracts with individuals from a "foreign adversarial nation," including China.

Wood pointed out:

Add it up and the market becomes clear:

- Banned in China.
- Affirmed by the Supreme Court in June: born here, citizen at birth, beyond Congress's reach.
- Green cards for the parents at 21.

Every adult in this market gets something. The child pays for all of it.

The Bottom Line:

At the center of every one of these stories — though rarely highlighted by the mainstream media — are the children who are created.

Surrogacy treats these children as products without a second thought, and often, they get caught in the crosshairs of tricky custody battles and international wrangling.

Unregulated surrogacy means these children could be one of dozens or even hundreds born to a single parent, deprived of the love, care, and nurturing of a mother, father, and traditional family.

No one is owed a child, but all children deserve to be born into loving families.