Vietnamese surrogate mothers to return home

The Vietnamese women hired as surrogate mothers in Thailand will be repatriated this week and their unborn babies will eventually be taken care of by the Vietnamese government.

Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanavisit said the authorities were preparing to take legal action against a Taiwanese company on charges of human trafficking and illegal detention.

The questioning of the Vietnamese women was completed yesterday and their evidence would help in the investigation, he said.

Mr Jurin joined Thai officials from many agencies at a meeting yesterday to discuss how to proceed after a raid last week on the alleged illegal surrogacy firm Baby 101, run by a Taiwanese man in Bangkok, and the arrest of 15 Vietnamese women.

Present at the meeting were staff from the Public Health Ministry, the Social Development and Human Security Ministry, the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Vietnamese embassy in Thailand, the Immigration Bureau, the Department of Special Investigation, the Medical Council and the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

The meeting decided legal action would be taken against the medical premises and doctors involved in the artificial insemination of the women.

The legal action would be based on the 1982 Medical Profession Act and the 1998 Medical Premises Act.

Mr Jurin did not name any specific medical premises but said the Medical Council would discuss the issue and transfer the matter to its ethics subcommittee on March 10.

The minister said the pregnant Vietnamese women who had originally intended to seek abortions had changed their minds and decided to continue with their pregnancies.

"All the women will return to Vietnam this week .. The babies to be born to the Vietnamese surrogate mothers will be under the care of the Vietnamese government," he said.

A Department of Special Investigation representative told the meeting the Taiwanese operator had been arrested in Taiwan. He entered Thailand in 2008 and resumed business here in 2009.

Accounts from the Vietnamese women indicate the Taiwanese firm had offices in Thailand and Cambodia and insemination took place in Thailand.

Meanwhile, representatives from a group fighting human trafficking yesterday urged authorities to block the company's website - http://www.baby-1001.com/eng/about.htm - as it remained accessible.

The Vietnamese government blocked the company's site but it was still accessible in Thailand, the Anti-human Trafficking Network said.

The website provides a registration form for clients who want to use the company's surrogacy service as well as applications for women who want to become a surrogate mother.

The DSI said last week it would ask the Information and Communication Technology Ministry to block the website because advertising for surrogate mothers through the internet was against the law.

From: bangkokpost.com

Posted in: Society