Positioning message board surrogacy in Thai society

“Surrogacy has been the most contentious use of assisted reproductive technologies,” explain Yuri Hibino and Yosuke Shimazono. In a recent report they study the personal profiles and motivations behind the ‘message board surrogacy’ observed in Thailand, where potential surrogates and infertile couples connect through online forums.

Surrogacy is the nourishing of an in vitro fertilised foetus in the womb of a woman outside the parental relationship, usually to allow infertile couples to have children. Although commercial surrogacy is permitted in several countries such as US, it is illegal in any form in most countries. In Thailand a bill defining the status of surrogacy failed to be ratified by the National Assembly leaving it in a state of legal limbo.

Yuri Hibino and Yosuke Shimazono interviewed 14 prospective surrogates recruited through advertisements on surrogacy message boards, as well as an additional study participant introduced through a lawyer. Studies in other countries have concluded that women turn to commercial surrogacy out of financial desperation. In contrast several women Hibino and Shimazono interviewed were educated and did not appear to be suffering severe financial distress.

Although economic factors featured as the primary motivation for posting an advertisement to become a surrogate, other incentives included compassion for infertile couples, a love of being pregnant and a desire for ‘tan-bun’ a term for a meritorious act that holds particular significance in Buddhism. In addition, the researchers highlight the possible influence of gender roles in Thailand where high expectations are placed on daughters to care for elderly parents.

Hibino and Shimazono also point out that the social form of message board surrogacy has some advantages. However the lack of support structure may leave message board surrogates particularly vulnerable as they “walk into a ‘psychological minefield’ without much protection.”

Publication and Affiliation
Yuri Hibino* and Yosuke Shimazono
Becoming a Surrogate Online: “Message Board” Surrogacy in Thailand Asian Bioethics Review 5 (2013) 56-72. Link

Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical, Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

*corresponding author, e-mail address: hibino＠staff.kanazawa-u.ac.jp

ID: 201312H028