Commercial Surrogacy Stops in Thailand UPDATED

 

“Thailand’s military-picked legislature has passed a law that criminalizes commercial surrogacy and prohibits foreigners from seeking surrogacy services in the kingdom after a string of scandals last year.

Lawmaker Wanlop Tangkananurak said Friday that the law aims to stop Thailand from being a commercial surrogacy hub for foreign couples or “the wombs of the world.”

Thailand was rocked by several surrogacy scandals last year. One involved an Australian couple who but left behind a twin baby who had Down’s syndrome. The other case involved a Japanese man who fathered at least 16 babies via Thai surrogates.

The parliament voted to pass the law Thursday.

Under the new law, anyone involved in hiring women commercially to carry fetuses to term will face a maximum jail term of 10 years.”

Commercial surrogacy stops in Thailand[Indian Express 2/20/15 by Associated Press]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update:“A new law banning commercial surrogacy takes effect July 30 even as controversy continues to swirl around children born before the law was passed this winter.

Public Health and Social Development and Human Security ministry officials announced Thursday’s enforcement of the Protection of Children Born from Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act, which was adopted in February and published in the Royal Gazette May 1. The legislation was spurred by an Australian couple who were accused of abandoning a baby with Down’s Syndrome carried by a Thai surrogate while taking his healthy twin sister. A second high-profile surrogacy controversy erupted when nine babies fathered by a Japanese man using Thai surrogate mothers were discovered in a Bangkok apartment.

Ministry officials said Wednesday that the new law is intended to help married, childless couples have their own children using reproductive technologies and prevent the abuse of such technologies. A significant change in the law gives biological parents of a child born via surrogacy immediate parental rights in line with family and inheritance laws, Public Health Minister Rajata Rajatanavin said. Under the existing statute, a surrogate mother is considered the legal parent until consents to turning over the child.

See more at Law banning commercial surrogacy takes effect Thursday  [The Bangkok Post 7/29/15]