Thai parliament votes to outlaw commercial surrogacy

Thailand's interim parliament has voted in support of a law to ban its largely unregulated surrogacy trade.

The move follows several high-profile surrogacy scandals including the case of baby Gammy, who was allegedly abandoned by his intended Australian parents because he has Down's syndrome (reported in BioNews 765).

If passed, the new law would mean that anyone involved in commercial surrogacy could face up to ten years in prison. A finalised version of the law is expected to be ready for consideration within a month.

Dozens - perhaps even hundreds - of foreign couples are thought to have been left in the dark after entering Thai surrogacy agreements.

'We want to put an end to this idea in foreigners' minds that Thailand is a baby factory,' Thai MP Wallop Tungkananurak told the AFP news agency. 'The bill was adopted with overwhelming support.'

For decades, commercial surrogacy in Thailand has existed in a legal grey area. In 1997, the Thai Medical Council issued a service standard stipulating that 'no compensation may be made' to the gamete donor or surrogate mother, and that the surrogate mother 'shall be a relative by blood of either party of the couple', but these stipulations have been largely unenforced.

Associated Press adds that the Medical Council 'has a regulation stating that doctors cannot perform surrogacy for pay or risk losing their licence'. This, too, has apparently been ignored.

Crucially, Thai law does not specifically ban commercial surrogacy, making it an attractive destination for foreigners hoping to have a baby this way.

The baby Gammy controversy was followed by reports of a separate case in which a 24-year-old Japanese man fathered at least 15 children with Thai surrogate mothers (see BioNews 768).