Thailand considers legalizing surrogacy for foreign couples

BANGKOK, March 1 (Reuters) – Thailand has decided to relax its surrogacy laws to allow foreign couples to use a surrogate mother in the country, a senior health official said on Friday .

Thailand strictly regulated the practice of surrogacy in 2015, notably banning it for foreign couples, following a series of high-profile scandals surrounding the flourishing – and opaque – industry of “wombs for rent”.

“We will amend the law to allow foreign couples to benefit from the services of a surrogate mother based on regulations,” Arkhom Praditsuwan, deputy director general of the health service support department, told Reuters.

Eligible people must be legally married, regardless of gender, and the child born from surrogacy must benefit from protection and rights in the couple’s country of origin, Arkhom Praditsuwan said.

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Foreign couples will be able to bring in a surrogate mother or use a Thai surrogate mother, after receiving authorization from a government committee, he added.

The amendment will be submitted this month for approval by the council of ministers. It is part of broader reform on surrogacy, in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination, to enable Thais, including same-sex couples, to obtain easier access to these services and to strengthen “medical tourism”, according to Arkhom Praditsuwan.

If the cabinet approves the draft amendment, the text will then be considered by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Since 2015, Thailand has only allowed surrogacy for Thai couples or Thais married to a foreigner for more than three years and who face difficulties having children. (Reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Panu Wongcha-um; French version Mathias de Rozario; editing by Sophie Louet)