Thai Parliament votes to ban commercial surrogacy trade
29 Nov BBC
Thailand's parliament has voted to ban commercial surrogacy after
outrage over the largely unregulated trade.
The draft bill, which passed its first reading on Friday by 177
votes, says violators could face 10 years in jail.In August
international media reported that an Australian couple had allegedly
abandoned their surrogate son Gammy because he had Down's Syndrome.
Anger over Thailand's surrogacy trade increased when a Japanese man
was found to have fathered nine surrogate babies.Thailand's ruling
military junta, which seized power in May, promised to end commercial
surrogacy."We want to put an end to this idea in foreigners' minds that
Thailand is a baby factory," Thai lawmaker Wallop Tungkananurak told AFP
news agency.Commercial surrogacy was supposedly banned by Thailand's
Medical Council in 1997.
The body explicitly said "no compensation may be made" to the gamete
donor or impregnated woman.It added that the woman carrying the baby
must be a "relative by blood of either party of the couple".
Nevertheless, a booming surrogacy industry has sprang up in Thailand,
attracting many foreigners.Recently though, Thailand has been hit by a
number of scandals over its surrogacy trade.
The first came when a Thai surrogate mother alleged that Australians
David and Wendy Farnell had left her with Gammy - who also suffers from
a congenital heart condition and a lung infection - but taken his twin
sister home.Pattharamon Chanbua further claimed that the couple had
asked her to terminate the pregnancy, violating her Buddhist beliefs,
when they realised Gammy was disabled.
The Farnells denied the allegations, telling Australian media that
they had wanted the child but Ms Chanbua insisted on keeping him. |