Thailand bans surrogacy for foreigners
Print Edition
THAILAND, once a top choice for would-be parents seeking a surrogate, has narrowed the choices for people looking to hire a woman to carry a fetus in her womb.
It was one of a handful of Asian countries where commercial surrogacy was not specifically banned. And the cost of having a baby by surrogate, often with an implanted embryo from biological parents, was less than US$50,000, compared with about US$150,000 in the United States.
However, recent scandals in Thailand involving foreign clients caused a public outcry. In one case, an Australian couple abandoned an infant born to a surrogate last year after they found out the baby had Down syndrome. In another, the son of a Japanese billionaire hired at least a dozen surrogate mothers in what appeared to be an eccentric effort to replicate himself.
The law that took effect on July 30 prohibits commercial surrogacy serving foreign clients, with violations punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 baht (US$6,200). Only Thai heterosexual couples married for more than three years can hire surrogates, a provision that excludes gay people since same-sex marriage is not recognized.
Under an earlier law, the surrogate mother had full rights over the newborn, even though she had no genetic ties with the child. The new law gives intended parents full rights upon the child’s birth. The new law also has a temporary provision that allows intended parents with a surrogacy contract from before the law came into effect to petition in court for full parental rights.
The new law was designed “to give maximum benefits to the surrogate babies,” according to Rarinthip Sirorat, an official from the Social Development and Human Security Ministry.
“What’s significant about it is that Thailand is not going to have international surrogacy anymore,” said Stephen Page, a surrogacy lawyer at Harrington Family Lawyers in Brisbane.
When surrogacy is banned in one country, it invariably means the practice will flourish in other places, he said. Other countries in Asia such as India and Nepal are also popular destinations for international surrogacy, and more people will now seek surrogates there.
Details on how to enforce the new law are still unclear, according to Nandana Indananda, a Bangkok-based lawyer.
A current high-profile case could resolve some of the questions. It involves a gay couple — an American and a Spaniard — who cannot take their daughter Carmen out of Thailand because the surrogate decided she wanted to keep the baby.
The situation leaves Gordon Lake, the biological father, and his husband — currently living in Bangkok with Carmen and a toddler son — in legal limbo.
They are hoping that a court will grant them full and uncontested rights to Carmen.
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