An illegal surrogacy ring in Cambodia has been uncovered despite efforts by the local government to crack down on surrogacy practices, which continue to persist.
According to AP News on Sunday, Cambodia’s Ministry of Interior announced that police recently raided a villa in the Kandal region near the capital, Phnom Penh, and arrested 24 women, including 20 Filipinos and 4 Vietnamese nationals.
Among them, 13 Filipino women were pregnant. Local police believe that a Thailand-based company recruited surrogate mothers online and provided accommodation and meals in Cambodia. Investigations are ongoing.
The 13 pregnant women have been charged with violating CCambodia’slaws against human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
The Ministry of Interior stated that the women could face a prison sentence of up to five years after giving birth. Authorities believe that these women were not victims but rather collaborated with the company, acting as surrogate mothers in exchange for money and handing over the babies, thus participating in criminal activity. The 7 Filipino women who were not pregnant and the 4 Vietnamese women will be deported.
Cambodia banned commercial surrogacy in 2016 after the country became a popular destination for foreign surrogacy. However, a black market for surrogacy has persisted despite government crackdowns.
In 2017, an Australian nurse was sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison for recruiting 23 local women to undergo artificial insemination for 18 Australian and 5 American couples. The following year, authorities uncovered a large surrogacy agency that had employed dozens of local women as surrogates, resulting in the arrest of 33 surrogate mothers. At that time, the surrogate mothers were released after promising to raise the babies themselves.
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