Abolition of one-child policy builds business

China’s decision to abolish the one-child policy made many couples happy – and many IVF clinics. Business is booming, as many couples are eager to ensure that they have a boy. Chinese women marry at around 28, so many will have trouble conceiving a second child if they wait until they are 35 or so.

“Here we can do IVF with gender selection and you don’t need lots of documentation,” a doctor at a Guangdong clinic told Reuters. He said that there had been a 50% rise in consultations since the announcement.

“Clinics are so busy it’s unbearable. Whichever hospital you go to it’s always rammed with people,” said a doctor at an IVF clinic in Shanghai.

“China is set to be the biggest IVF market in the world, probably within the next couple of years,” an American involved in reproductive health says. Overseas groups like Australia-based Monash IVF and Virtus Health are expanding into China.

Overseas IVF is also less restrictive. In China surrogacy and gender selection are officially not permitted, but they can be organised at IVF clinics in the US, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.

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