The Hague: ISSUES ARISING FROM INTERNATIONAL SURROGACY ARRANGEMENTS

[Clark]

http://www.hcch.net/upload/wop/genaff2011pd11e.pdf

PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW ISSUES SURROUNDING
THE ST ATUS OF CHILDREN, INCLUDING ISSUES ARISING FROM
INTERNATIONAL SURROGACY ARRANGEMENTS
...
International surrogacy cases often involve problems concerning the establishment
and / or recognition of the child’s legal parentage and the legal consequences which flow
from such a determination (e.g., the child’s nationality, immigration status, who has
parental responsibility for the child, who is under a duty to maintain the child, etc.)
Whilst international surrogacy cases undoubtedly present their own unique challenges
(see section VI below), it has been considered artificial to address in this Note the
challenges of private international law regarding the status of children generally,
separately from those which face the international community in relation to international
surrogacy cases. This preliminary Note therefore deals with international surrogacy in
this wider context.
...

[Clark]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/world/asia/in-thailands-surrogacy-industry-profit-and-a-moral-quagmire.html

Thailand’s Business in Paid Surrogates May Be Foundering in a Moral Quagmire
By THOMAS FULLER

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Commercial surrogacy has been available for at least a decade in Thailand, one of only a handful of countries where it is allowed, and one of only two in Asia, making it a prime destination for couples in the region from countries where the practice is banned.

Officials estimate that there are several hundred surrogate births here each year, in addition to the foreign surrogates, including many hired by Chinese couples, who come to Thailand for the embryo implantation, then return home to carry out the pregnancy.

But a pair of recent scandals have focused scrutiny on the largely unregulated industry, raising ethical questions and prompting the government’s crackdown.
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Commentators have lamented that Thailand, which already had a reputation for prostitution, was now becoming, as one television anchor called it, the “womb of Asia.”

Others described surrogacy as the exploitation of the weak and poor by wealthy couples from more developed nations.

“This is a symbol of moral erosion,” said Kaysorn Vongmanee, the head of the public health department in Pak Ok. “It’s a symbol that people are concerned above all with money.”
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Among the villagers, there is sympathy for the surrogates and anger at what is seen as a witch hunt by the authorities for women who took part in a practice that is not yet illegal.

“There’s nothing wrong with surrogacy — you are helping people who can’t have a baby,” said Pakson Thongda, 42, whose daughter twice sold eggs to a fertility clinic for about $1,000 each time. “I understand the feeling of a mother who really, really wants a child.”
...
The junta has not publicly explained its decision, but Sriamporn Salikoop, a senior Supreme Court judge, said the ban was needed to prevent exploitation of Thai surrogates.

“Giving birth to a human is not like breeding animals,” he told a Thai newspaper.

Thai Rath, the Thai newspaper that first published the news about the baby with Down syndrome, said in an editorial on Monday that the surrogacy law was well intended but likely only to push surrogacy “underground.”

“People will carry it out illegally and out of sight — and may resort to human trafficking or kidnapping to get children out of the country,” the paper said.