Illegal baby sales ring shut down in Thailand

Thai police put the kibosh in February on a baby selling ring called Baby 101, which offers surrogate motherhood services. Sounds legit, I suppose, save for the whole “forced surrogacy” thing.

Yes, they were shut down for allegedly forcing women into giving up their babies to be purchased by others. A number of Taiwanese, Chinese, and Burmese individuals were arrested in the bust and the organization was shut down. Orders had apparently been made through e-mail and through agents for babies.

According to Major General Manu Mekmok, commander of investigations for the immigration department, several of the 13 women found among two houses stated they were tricked into becoming surrogate mothers after volunteering for work that promised to pay $5,000. They learned of the surrogacy ring after the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok received several e-mails.

Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said, “This is illegal and inhuman. In some cases it looks like they were raped.” Truly a sad state of affairs. All of this raises issues for officials, as it could potentially lead to this practice becoming common.

Making money on surrogacy is banned in Thailand, and only allowed if no money is exchanged and if the surrogate is related to the hopeful parents.


/Weird Asia News/