January 24, 2012
Baptist Press reports that a Chinese man and woman are parents to eight babies with the help of two surrogate mothers, shattering the boundaries of the country's coercive population-control mandates that have been in place for more than 30 years. The four boys and four girls were born in September and October 2010, two carried by their biological mother and three each carried by two surrogates. The couple, who has not been identified, spent nearly $160,000 to have the babies, despite steep penalties for violations of China's one-child policy and a law prohibiting surrogacy. Chinese news media are referring to the mother as "octomom," and the story has intrigued China's citizens because of the blatant rebellion against the country's strict policies, said Liang Zhongtang, a demography expert at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. "People are very interested in the policy these days and the need for changes to it," he said.
