July 30th saw a ban come into action meaning commercial surrogacy in Thailand is illegal, reports the Bangkok Post.
This falls under The Protection of Children Born from Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act.
Image Credit: Torsten Mangner (Flickr)
The enforcement of this legislation was urged following a high-profile surrogacy case involving an Australian couple, who are accused of abandoning their baby born of a Thai surrogate as it had down syndrome, and only taking his healthy twin with them.
Another case involved a Japanese man who had used multiple Thai surrogates to birth nine babies, all discovered in a Bangkok apartment, and described as a ‘baby factory.’
Under the previous law, the surrogate mother is considered the legal parent until she willingly hands over the child to the new parents.
The consent element has made headlines in recent weeks due to a Thai surrogate refusing to sign the relevant paperwork to legally allow a gay couple who had contracted her to be their surrogate, to take the newborn home. She claims she was not aware that the couple was same sex. The couple remains in Bangkok caring for the baby girl, it is not yet known if or when they will be allowed to leave with her.
Child custody lawyers in Thailand, Chaninat and Leeds have decades of courtroom and counseling experience in family law matters.
Were they to try and leave the country with baby Carmen, they would be in violation of Thailand’s human trafficking laws.
The new law intends to avoid the abuse of such a reproductive technology, and help only married, childless couples.
Couples looking to explore surrogacy must have a legally registered marriage and have been medically examined and approved.
For the full story, go here.
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