Thailand Bans surrogacy

Thailand Bans surrogacy

Thailand has given the official end to commercial surrogacy by bringing into effect the law which was passed in February this year. Thailand was a popular option for international surrogacy with much less regulation. Thailand did not have a law regulating surrogacy and the surrogate mothers were available in abundance. With no regulatory body in place, the industry was flourishing. Thailand’s surrogacy also surged forward when India disallowed surrogacy for homosexual couples. India had introduced a new category of visa called the “medical visa for surrogacy” which required that the intended parents to be a married heterosexual couple married at least for a period of two years.

Thailand’s decision to ban commercial surrogacy came after the controversial baby Gammy case. An Australian couple had deserted one of the twins born through surrogacy after they came to know that the child had down-syndrome. With this case widely discussed in the international media, the Thai Authorities started crackdown operations on surrogacy industry. Another case was exposed where a Japanese single man had fathered about 16 children through surrogacy in Thailand. With these cases in hand, the newly formed military government in Thailand had brought out strict reforms to ban commercial surrogacy, also stating that surrogacy was never legal in Thailand.

Thailand has now imposed restrictions similar to what was introduced in India. The present law requires that those wishing to take up surrogacy in Thailand must be a couple, a man and a woman legally married for at least three years with atleast one of them holding Thai nationality. It also requires that the surrogate mother must have her own children, and must take up the surrogacy with the consent of her husband. Ideally the surrogate mother must be a sibling of the couple. If the surrogate is not a sibling to the intended parents, then there are also few restrictions on who can be the surrogate.

The new law prohibits commercial surrogacy for foreign clients. Offences under the law are punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 baht (USD 6,200).

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