Australian Woman Charged After Violating Cambodia’s Ban on Surrogacy

An Australian woman was charged in Cambodia for violating the country’s new ban on providing commercial surrogacy services.

Tammy Davis-Charles, 49, and two Cambodians, were charged with falsifying documents and human trafficking, making them liable for up to two years in prison.

Keo Thea, chief of Cambodia’s anti-human trafficking bureau, said that Ms Davis-Charles ran a company that paid surrogate mothers $US10,000-12,000 and charged her clients around $US50,000 ($68,000) for the service.

He said that Ms Davis-Charles set up a shop in Cambodia after previously running a similar operation in Thailand. He also accused the clinic of being unconcerned about the health risks to the surrogates. “These surrogate mothers, they are poor women from the countryside and they were cheated by the company to serve as surrogates,” he said.

Mr Thea added that at least five surrogates have given birth to six children and more than 20 others are pregnant. Most of the clients were reportedly from Australia.

Mr Thea said Ms Davis-Charles was too ill to come to court on Monday and was charged in absentia. She and two Cambodian associates were detained on Friday.

The Health Ministry issued the ban last month, but there is no criminal penalty yet for the practice. Cambodia has become a popular destination for persons seeking surrogate mothers when India and Thailand banned surrogate services for foreigners in 2015.

Developing countries have become popular for surrogacy since costs are much lower than in nations such as the United States and Australia, where many clients come from and where surrogate services are estimated at $US150,000.

The Cambodia Daily reported that Cambodian officials would meet with the pregnant surrogates and representatives of the Australian embassy to discuss how to resolve the surrogacies still in progress.

Source: News.com.au