Illegal yet ongoing: surrogacy through the moral prism of urban Chinese women in Nanjing

Abstract

How urban Chinese women understand and morally evaluate surrogacy remains an insufficiently explored area, despite the persistence of this practice in clandestine forms under a strict legal ban in China. From the perspective of moral sociology, this qualitative study foregrounds these overlooked voices through semi-structured interviews with 24 women in Nanjing, conducted between May and July 2025. The findings reveal a form of “pragmatic ambivalence”: rather than holding binary positions of approval or rejection, participants articulate a nuanced and context-dependent stance. This stance is shaped by three key dimensions: (1) embodied reproductive experiences that heighten ethical sensitivity; (2) fertility pressures and practical reproductive needs that drive conditional support; and (3) legal prohibition and dominant moral norms that reinforce structural skepticism. We argue that women’s attitudes do not constitute abstract choices, but are situated within the tension between bodily autonomy and familial obligation.