Aggregated News
Bangkok: Cambodia has moved to shut down its booming commercial surrogacy industry that has attracted several dozen Australian couples seeking to become biological parents.
Pregnant surrogate mothers and intending couples now face an uncertain future for their babies in the south-east Asian country's murky and corrupt legal system.
Sam Everingham, global director of the Australian consultancy Families Through Surrogacy, told Fairfax Media that "scores of Australians will be forced to abandon their embryos in Cambodia, along with their dreams of a family".
Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh emerged as the latest hub of surrogacy in Asia after commercial surrogacy was banned in Thailand, Nepal and India.
Many of the IVF doctors, lawyers and agencies, chased out of Thailand after the Thai military shut down the industry following the Baby Gammy scandal in 2014, moved to Phnom Penh where they openly advertised cheap medical costs, the availability of Asian surrogates and no laws excluding gay couples or single parents.
Cambodia's health ministry issued a proclamation on October 24 banning commercial surrogacy. It was distributed this week to about 50 surrogacy providers and brokers operating in...