BANGKOK 20 Feb (ANA) - A Thai court on Tuesday said it ruled in favour of a wealthy Japanese man who had fathered 13 surrogate children in Thailand, naming him their legal parent and sole guardian. The case harks back to late 2014, when police said they had found 13 babies fathered by a Japanese national with nine Thai surrogate mothers. The children were taken to foster homes and the father has petitioned for custody since early 2015.

 

The man had his sperm fertilise donor eggs, which were then planted in the wombs of the surrogate mothers in 2013, according to a press statement given by the court. No details were given on where the donor eggs were from. The scandal at the time shone an international spotlight on Thailand’s largely unregulated surrogacy business, prompting authorities to crack down on clinics with nationwide inspections and later to ban commercial surrogacy.(ANA)

FA/ANA/20 February 2018-----------