Police in Vietnam have arrested a woman on suspicion of facilitating commercial surrogacy.
Following a police investigation, Phan Thi Hang Oanh was arrested and charged with organising surrogacy for commercial purposes. Commercial surrogacy in Vietnam is prohibited and offenders can face a fine of up to VND200 million (£7476) and a prison sentence of up to five years.
The police investigation revealed that Oanh had created a Facebook group to contact potential surrogates and egg sellers. Subsequently a man from Hanoi contacted Oanh and agreed to pay her VND700 million (£26,152) in return for finding an egg to fertilise with his sperm and a surrogate.
Oanh then approached Le Thi L with an offer for her eggs and to be the surrogate. However, the transfer of embryos was unsuccessful, and L was only paid VND50 million (£1869). Oanh later entered a separate transaction with another woman referred to as NTQT, who agreed to be the surrogate for VND320 million (£11,965). Upon confirmation of pregnancy NTQT was moved to an apartment in Hanoi.
To admit Le Thi L and later NTQT into hospital, Oanh commissioned Tran Thanh Son to create fake documents and papers. Son was arrested along with Oanh and confessed to creating a fake ID using L's personal information and NTQT's photo. He also admitted to creating a fake household registration book and fake marriage certification. Son was paid VND6 million (£224) by Oanh.
Despite the prohibition of commercial surrogacy, non-commercial surrogacy among relatives has been legal after an amendment to the Law on Family and Marriage by the National Assembly of Vietnam in 2015. Under this law, surrogacy is only allowed where the woman is incapable of having children for health reasons, but the embryo used must be made from her egg and her husband's sperm. Furthermore, the surrogate must be a close relative between the age of 21 and 40, in good physical health, have had at least one child, and if married, must obtain the consent of her husband.
The arrest of Oanh and Son is the latest in a number of commercial surrogacy cases in Vietnam. In April 2019, two women were arrested for running an illegal surrogacy ring that took a total of 15 Vietnamese women to China between March and October 2018 to act as surrogates, VN Express reported. In a separate incident in August 2019, two women were arrested for running an illegal surrogacy ring, VN Express reported. Another two women were arrested in April 2021 for a similar offence in northern Vietnam, VN Express also reported.
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