Qin Xiyan and Wu Donglan, two female deputies to the National People's Congress talked about the controversial issue of surrogacy at the ongoing NPC meeting and suggested legislation should be enacted to ban and punish profit-seeking surrogacy brokerage agencies.

Though surrogacy could also bring hope to couples with fertility problems, it would challenge traditional parenthood and thus cause ethical, legal and social problems, Wu said.

The demand from couples with fertility problems and the huge profits are the main reasons illegal surrogacy agencies break the law. However, the existing regulation on surrogacy, issued by the Ministry of Health in 2001, which says that medical institutions will be warned and fined for illegally conducting surrogacy operations, is not an effective means of punishing offenders and banning the practice.

Therefore, as proposed by Qin in her motion, the government should ban illegal surrogacy in legal and administrative aspects, including penalties for offenders under Criminal Law; also, the Population and Family Planning Law should clearly ban surrogacy and clarify which government departments should supervise the issue, Wu added.