Mirage News | August 1, 2023
A study on Thailand’s ban on commercial surrogacy shows that the underground industry leaves surrogates with few protections. An international legislative framework could regulate surrogacy without penalizing the surrogate.
Bangkok Post | May 12, 2023
Although Thailand outlawed surrogacy in 2015, the industry still operates illegally. Now, the Department of Health is drafting an amendment to increase the penalties for brokers who facilitate surrogacy and for surrogates themselves.
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Thai PBS | February 7, 2023
Since Thailand legalized surrogacy for married couples seven years ago, 621 surrogacy cases have been approved. To combat commercialization, the government still bans the sale of gametes and embryos.
Charlie Campbell | Time | November 3, 2022
Surrogacy & adoption services in Thailand are only available to legally married couples, excluding LGBTQ people. Proposed legislation would expand access for LGBTQ families, including for this transgender mom and her adopted children.
Swedish Research Council | PHYS | October 11, 2022
Despite a 2015 ban, commercial surrogacy in Thailand continues to operate underground. New research shows how Thai surrogates must travel across borders for embryo implantation and childbirth, exposing them to multiple vulnerabilities.
Caitlin Ashworth | The Thaiger | February 7, 2021
This article highlights an illegal Thai surrogacy ring posing as a cleaning company, with 3 alleged agents and 4 alleged surrogates arrested so far. Cybercrime police discovered the ring when foreign intended parents were unable to retrieve the babies because of coronavirus travel restrictions. International surrogacy is illegal in Thailand, so the women were brought to Cambodia for embryo transfer and returned to Thailand for the duration of the pregnancy and birth. Allegedly, Thai women were lured in through social media and then paid over 500,000 baht (about 17,000 USD) each to bear children for foreign buyers.
By Wassayos Ngamkham | Bangkok Post | May 27, 2020
Police are pressing charges against a doctor suspected of involvement in a transnational surrogacy ring in Bangkok, where surrogacy is illegal. One woman believed to be involved has been arrested, and police say they are preparing to arrest 10 additional people. Surrogates were hired in Thailand and sent to other countries for embryo transfer; most came back to give birth, though some were sent to China to deliver the babies.
Japanese Man Wins Sole Custody of 13 Surrogacy Children
By Daniel Hurst | The Guardian | Feb. 20, 2018
In a saga that started in 2014, one of the richest men in Japan has just been granted custody of children he commissioned from Thai gestational mothers. In its ruling, the central juvenile court “found the father had no history of bad behaviour and would provide for the children’s happiness.”
This case first came to light in the regulatory upheaval following the case of Baby Gammy in Thailand, and resulted in the country’s eventual ban on international commercial surrogacy. It continues to raise questions as, according to Sam Everingham, a director of the Australia-based consultancy Families Through Surrogacy, an example of “an unacceptable abuse of the limited pool of gestational surrogates globally” and, more broadly, the ethics of a practice that does not protect the rights of the women and children involved.
Surrogacy Problem Sneaks Across the Border
By The Nation | April 25, 2017
Following up on the recent arrest of a Thai national carrying multiple vials of human semen into Laos, this editorial provides a comprehensive overview of surrogacy laws in the region.
Thailand, for example, largely permits surrogacy between blood relatives; Cambodia’s temporary guidelines, which allow foreign intended parents to legally take their children out of the country, will soon be replaced with a permanent law; and Vietnam amended its Marriage and Family Law in 2015 to only allow “altruistic surrogacy”. Their proximity – see map alongside, with Thailand represented in white – and inconsistent law positions Laos and Myanmar as the new hubs on the block.
Thai Police Arrest Man Smuggling Semen into Laos
By BBC | April 21, 2017
After India, Nepal, Thailand, and Cambodia closed their doors to international commercial surrogacy, Laos is stepping up to the front of the line.
This article covers the recent arrest of a man carrying vials of human semen destined for a fertility clinic in the country’s capital. He admits having done so 12 times in the last year, making clear, yet again, the mobility of the practice across geographical borders and its adaptive agility in the face of changing laws.
