Between Taiwan and the United States: International Standards on Citizenship, Parentage, and Child Protection in Surrogacy

^{Flag of the Republic of China (aka Taiwan)
Sun Yat-sen, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons}

Introduction: Surrogacy Debates in Taiwan and Children’s Rights 

In 2024, an outspoken advocate for surrogacy, Chen Chao-tzu (陳昭姿), was elected to Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan (立法院), thereby drawing greater public attention to the issue. Surrogacy is currently illegal in Taiwan and remains a contentious issue. According to a 2025 study on public health policy, the Taiwanese public holds significant concerns about the legalization of surrogacy and its potential social impact on the rights of women and children. Nonetheless, some Taiwanese individuals continue to travel abroad to countries where commercial surrogacy is permitted and have children through such arrangements. 

The Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), a leading international private law body, defines a surrogacy arrangement as an agreement made before conception between the prospective surrogate mother and the intended parent(s). Under this agreement, the intended parents will become the legal parents and assume care of the child after birth. An International Surrogacy Arrangement (ISA) refers to a situation in which the intended parents and...