Thailand Reauthorizes Commercial Surrogacy... "No Gender Restrictions for Couples"

10 Years After the Ban on Commercial Surrogacy
Gender Does Not Matter but Must Be Legally Married

Foreign media reported that the Thai government has decided to allow surrogate births for foreign couples to expand medical tourism. This comes 10 years after commercial surrogacy was banned in 2015, following an incident where an Australian couple refused to raise a child born via surrogacy in Thailand due to the child's disability.

Photo by Pixabay

On the 2nd (local time), the Thai Ministry of Public Health announced, "We are pushing for legal amendments to allow surrogate births for foreign couples," explaining that this policy is not only to expand medical tourism for foreigners but also to support infertile couples in Thailand. The gender of the couple does not matter for surrogate births. However, only legally married couples are allowed. The rights of the child must also be guaranteed in the couple’s home country.

Before the 2015 incident involving the Australian couple’s refusal to raise the child, Thailand allowed surrogate births among relatives and prohibited commercial surrogacy through the medical ethics code, but there was no separate law to criminally punish it. At that time, Thai surrogate mothers reportedly received an average of 300,000 baht (approximately 9.6 million KRW), along with a monthly allowance of $450 and free accommodation during the pregnancy period.

Since 2015, commercial surrogacy has been made illegal, and only infertile foreign couples who have been married for at least three years and have difficulty conceiving have been exceptionally allowed to have surrogate births.

If this bill passes, Thailand will become the seventh country worldwide to allow commercial surrogacy. Ukraine was known as an international hub for surrogacy until Russia’s invasion began in February 2022. Some U.S. states, as well as Georgia and Colombia, also permit commercial surrogacy.

A baby born to a Thai surrogate mother was abandoned by the biological parents due to the baby having a disability.
[Photo by Channel A broadcast screen capture]

Elon Musk, CEO of the American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, and his partner, Canadian pop singer Grimes, had their second daughter through surrogacy. Paris Hilton, heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune, said, "I’m even scared to go to the hospital. I can’t endure the physical aspects," and gave birth to two children via surrogacy. Influencer and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian, facing a high risk of miscarriage due to health issues, had her third and fourth children through surrogacy, and her sister Khloe Kardashian also gave birth to her second child via surrogacy due to miscarriage risks. Same-sex couples such as Ricky Martin and Elton John have also successfully had children through surrogacy.