The Dark Side of Cambodia’s Surrogacy Boom

[geovalin]

For many couples in the developed world, the only route to having a baby is international surrogacy. But the rapid rise of the industry in Cambodia has raised concerns about the welfare of women.

In the fast-growing industry of international surrogacy, destinations for low-cost options are constantly shifting. India used to be the top choice for Western couples looking for value for money: until recently, a surrogate baby from India cost as little as $15,000, a quarter of what it usually costs in America. After a series of scandals around the ethics of outsourcing pregnancy to disadvantaged women led India to ban surrogacy for foreign couples, Thailand, Mexico and Nepal took their turns at the top of the list. But over the past few years, each of those countries has banned or severely restricted foreign surrogacy.

Now Cambodia has stepped in to fill the gap, quickly forming a foreign surrogacy market that, according to officials, is fueled in part by Thai brokers who moved their operations, and many of their surrogates, to the country. The government has suggested it will bring in laws to regulate the practice or even ban it by making it a trafficking offence, but nothing has yet been put in place. In the absence of any clear legal framework, scores of surrogacy agencies have sprung up offering Cambodia packages for around $30,000 per baby.

read more https://www.newsdeeply.com/womenandgirls/the-dark-side-of-cambodias-surrogacy-boom/

[Deli]

LoS missed or better denied to have the business, they rather prefer loads of Chinese cheap Carly tourists who spit, shout and mess up the country

[humqdpf]

But what exactly is the "dark side" referred to in the headline?

If it is that women are being coerced or forced into the activity, then fine - use of force or coercion is covered under slavery laws and if they are applied then job done. Any woman who is coerced or forced into anything should get the protection of the law. But where is the dark side in this case?

If the surrogates are not getting adequately paid, then wave the exploitation flag. But that case is not being made. If they are being trafficked, then say that. But to throw together a few quotes from some gay adoptive fathers who would prefer not to be bothered by the media along with some rather vague stuff from an NGO does not make for a "dark side."

If we want dark side, then what about child labour? child sex trade (now thankfully much reduced or even almost gone, depending on who you talk to)? Outright forced labour/slavery on boats and ships for shrimp fishing etc. And of course, women forced into non-consensual sex, whether by forced marriage, trafficked into forced prostitution etc. These are indeed "dark side' activities but surrogacy does not even come near them.

Perhaps it is because poor women from a so-called developing country are being paid for their reproductive abilities, to conceive, carry and give birth to a child and then give that child up and this affects our Western ethics. Our Western ethics are such that we would much prefer that the women not get any money rather than engage in paid surrogacy. If you are looking for a dark side, then there it is - Westerners who prefer to dictate their code of ethics on everyone else even though it means that women in poor countries along with their families do not get to eat or buy shoes or whatever.

Instead, those who are really concerned about this issue should put their efforts into regulating surrogacy in Cambodia so that we do not get another situation like in India.