Thailand to ban commercial surrogacy by end of year

Thailand will sign into law a ban on commercial surrogacy by the end of the year, an official said Friday.

Chatree Pinyai, the head of the Ministry of Public Health's legal department, confirmed to dpa by phone that a draft law had been forwarded to the newly appointed National Legislative Assembly.

"The law will be put into place by the end of the year," Chatree said.

He added that it would be "impossible that [the bil] will be signed in the next few weeks"

Thailand has re-examined the legal position of surrogacy, which is not regulated at present, following a scandal involving a surrogate baby left in Thailand by an Australian couple.

Authorities have been investigating surrogacy clinics and practices around the country but complain that the laws have too many loopholes that make cases hard to investigate.