Parliament in Thailand voted in favor of banning surrogacy fee after the rage that existed in the country due to the fact that surrogacy has taken uncontrolled trade dimensions.

The bill after the first vote in Parliament on November 28th got 177 votes and now provides a prison sentence of 10 years in case of recourse to surrogacy fee. The legislative intervention was necessary after extensive scandals that occurred the previous months in Thailand. In August the public opinion was shocked by the couple from Australia who took only one of the twins born by a surrogate mother in Thailand and left the other because he was suffering from Down's syndrome, after the refusal of the surrogate to interrupt the pregnancy. In another incident a Japanese man was found to be father of nine children born via surrogate mother. The lawmaker Wallop Tungkananurak notes that this law will put an end to rumors that Thailand is a baby factory. Of course, the prohibition of fee exists in Thailand since 1997. Specifically according to the Medical Council, the payment for both the donor of the genetic material and the surrogate mother are prohibited. Furthermore, the woman carrying the baby must be a relative by blood of either party of the couple. Nevertheless, Thailand became an industry of surrogate mothers, attracting thus many interested people from other countries. After these scandals and given that according to the law of Thailand mother of the child is considered the woman who gives birth to the child, the Government now allows a couple to leave with a child born via surrogate mother only after a court decision that gives the permit. Employee of the Thai immigration department talks about an incident of homosexual couple who was stopped by the authorities at the airport of Bangkok because they had no documents to prove that they are the child's parents, while Australian journalist of ABC confirms three more cases with couples in which the departure was banned by the authorities due to lack of legal documents for the child.

Source: BBC NEWS