Surrogacy in Bangkok: Why You Need to be Careful All Along?

Surrogacy in Bangkok: Why You Need to be Careful All Along?

In Thailand, commercial surrogacy in Bangkok is prohibited as of now for the foreigners. Moreover, only women who are biologically related to the kid may serve as surrogate mothers in Thailand.

Interestingly, Thailand used to be one of the main global commercial surrogacy destinations, offering aided reproductive services to people from all over the world, and there was no regulation governing reproductive agreements there.

What triggered this ban on surrogacy in Bangkok?

Things didn't change until two significant scandals related to surrogacy in Bangkok made headlines in 2014. The first one was the tragic tale of baby Gammy, an Australian couple's surrogate kid who was abandoned after it was discovered that the child had Down syndrome; the second involved 16 surrogate babies who were discovered in Bangkok with a Japanese businessman who claimed to be their father.

The incidents sparked debate over the morality of for-profit surrogacy by surrogacy clinic in Bangkok and the distinction between that practice and human trafficking.

In February 2015, the military-dominated legislature enacted the law criminalizing and outlawing commercial surrogacy services after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) expedited legislation submitting a measure to regulate surrogacy to the National Legislative Assembly.

The Protection of Children Born through Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act (the ART act) prohibits foreigners from using surrogacy services and aims to put an end to the "rent-a-womb" sector, which made enormous sums of money from assisted reproduction while making the most of cheap surrogacy cost on in Bangkok.

How things look for the future of surrogacy in Bangkok?

Commercial surrogacy services are still in high demand. An increasing number of patients are crossing international boundaries to have children as a result of legal restrictions and the expensive expense of access to technology.

There are several unlicensed surrogacy clinics in Bangkok that use social media to find Thai surrogate moms and pay them over 500,000 baht apiece. The surrogate women are impregnated by the networks, who nurture the embryos in a neighboring nation, and then they return to Thailand where they give birth.

Authorities are contemplating boosting ART while being concerned about Thailand's low birth rate. As a result, some have suggested that commercial surrogacy services be made legal. The Department of Health Service Support (DHSS) said last week that it is looking to change the law to permit commercial surrogacy in order to assist stop the unlawful selling of infants. The organization is working to modify the ART Act to make it permissible to use women as surrogates. The legislation would also make it possible for foreigners to use Thailand's legal surrogacy system.

Currently, a woman who is neither the husband's or wife's biological sister may act as a surrogate only in the event that the couple lacks a blood relative who

is able to do so because of a fertility issue. The DHSS is now debating what criteria a commercial surrogate mother would need to satisfy.

Even yet, there are still some issues with the decision. The rights of the surrogate kid need to be protected, which is the main area of concern. In actuality, the gestational carrier immediately receives parental rights to children born through surrogacy under the Civil and Commercial Code. That holds true even if the donor egg is used and one of the intended parents is the biological father.

A covert approach to any legislative reform must be avoided because the subject is contentious and could trigger a moral uproar in some spheres of society. Every stakeholder should be consulted and there should be extensive discussion of any proposed legislation.