Pregnant Filipino women arrested for surrogacy in Cambodia could face jail time

Interior Minister Chou Bun-eng, who is leading the country’s fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation, said police found 24 foreign women, 20 Filipino and four Vietnamese, when they entered a villa in Kandal province, near invaded the capital of Phnom Penh. , on September 23.

Thirteen of the Filipino women were found pregnant and were charged in court on October 1 under a provision of the anti-trafficking and sexual exploitation law, she said.

The law was updated in 2016 to ban commercial surrogacy after Cambodia became a popular destination for foreigners looking for women to bear their children.

Developing countries are popular for surrogacy because the costs are much lower than in countries like the United States and Australia, where surrogacy services can cost around $150,000.

The surrogacy sector boomed in Cambodia after strict restrictions were imposed in neighboring Thailand, as well as India and Nepal.

In July 2017, a Cambodian court sentenced an Australian woman and two Cambodian associates to one and a half years in prison for providing commercial surrogacy services.