NLA votes to plug surrogacy loophole

THAILAND HAS plugged a legal loophole that had long allowed foreign couples to practically rent a womb here.

On Thursday, National Legislative Assembly (NLA) members voted 160 to 2 in support of the Act to Protect Babies Born Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies. Four members abstained. 

The surrogacy business had prospered to the point where businesses advertised for Thai women interested in earning between Bt150,000 and Bt600,000 in return for becoming surrogate mothers. 

Hundreds of Australian couples, for example, were helping themselves to surrogacy services in Thailand. 

Reports emerged last year about an Australian couple that had twins through the surrogacy service and rejected one of the babies because he had Down’s Syndrome. They left the baby behind with the Thai surrogate mother and took only the healthy twin sister back to their homeland. Soon after that, Thai authorities found that a Japanese man had hired many Thai surrogates to deliver more than 10 babies for him. 

These cases have raised awkward questions about the legal loophole, underlining the need for Thailand to tighten its control on surrogacy. Concerns have also been raised that surrogate babies could be abused too. 

Under the new law, a woman can serve as a surrogate mother in Thailand only for Thai couples with infertility problems whose marriage is registered or for a Thai-foreign couple provided they have been legally married for at least three years. 

 

In accordance with guidelines

The law also stipulates that the surrogate mother must not be a parent or a daughter of the couple. 

“In the event that the surrogate mother is not a blood relative, surrogacy services provided must be in accordance with guidelines laid down by the public health minister,” the law states. 

It requires a surrogate mother to be at least 25 years and have given birth to a baby before. If she is a married woman, she must obtain prior consent from her husband to engage in surrogacy services.

This new law also stipulates that the couples seeking surrogacy services shall not have the right to reject the babies born through the services.