China’s plan to “severely crack down” on illegal activities related to assisted reproductive technologies, such as buying or selling sperm or eggs and surrogacy, is intended to assuage widespread public concern. The country’s 14 government ministries, including the National Health Commission (NHC), said that assisted reproductive technology can only be used in the country’s 543 approved medical institutions.
Despite the government’s claim that it has made significant progress in curbing fertility, China’s birth rates remain far below replacement levels. The reversal of the one-child policy in 2015 may help to slow the decline, but a much more significant step is needed if demographic trends are not to spiral out of control.
One major factor in the continuing fertility crisis is the late age at which Chinese women now have children. They commonly wait until their 40s or even later to get married and start a family. This has led to a rise in miscarriage, abortions, and infertility problems.
Another critical factor is the lack of effective birth control methods in China. In the past, people who wanted to have more than one child were required to either sterilize themselves or have IUDs inserted. If they didn’t, their household was denied the right to receive ration coupons and other benefits. Rural families, in particular, were subject to heavy coercive enforcement.
The government has tried to counter the population crisis by promoting a two-child policy and encouraging couples with more than one child to use IVF treatments. Those efforts have been criticized by experts who argue that a slower pace of population growth would better serve the country’s aging society.
Many couples in China who want to use IVF cannot do so because of restrictions on their treatment use. For example, they are not allowed to access the clinics if they are unmarried, and the treatment is often expensive. According to the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, the success rate of IVF in the United States is 52%. Still, it is lower in China, and the average age at which people have their first IVF cycle is 33.
China is considering allowing single women to access IVF treatments, which could help slow the country’s demographic crisis. But it is not yet clear how many single women will take advantage of the option if it is available. One such woman is Xu Lyppens, 34, who lives in the southwestern city of Chengdu. She went to a clinic last year to freeze her eggs to have the option of having children when she felt ready, but she was turned away because she was not married. She has since moved to a city in the neighboring province of Sichuan, which legalized the registration of children by unmarried women in February to tackle record-low birth rates.