Pregnant Philippine women arrested in Cambodia for surrogacy could be prosecuted after giving birth

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Thirteen pregnant Philippine women accused of illegally acting as surrogate mothers in Cambodia after being recruited online may face prison terms after they give birth, a senior Interior Ministry official said Saturday.

Interior Ministry Secretary of State Chou Bun Eng, who leads the country’s fight against human trafficking and sexual exploitation, said police found 24 foreign women, 20 Philippine and four Vietnamese, when they raided a villa in Kandal province, near the capital of Phnom Penh, on Sept. 23.

Thirteen of the Philippine women were found to be pregnant and were charged in court on Oct. 1 under a provision in the law on Suppression of Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, she said.

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

Developing countries have been popular for surrogacy because costs are much lower than in countries such as the United States and Australia, where surrogate services could cost around $150,000.

The surrogacy business boomed in Cambodia after it was put under tight restrictions in neighboring Thailand, as well as in India and Nepal.

In July 2017, a Cambodian court sentenced an Australian woman and two Cambodian associates to 1 1/2 years in prison for providing commercial surrogacy services.

The new case is unusual because surrogates normally are employed in their own countries, not transported elsewhere.

Cambodia already has a bad reputation for human trafficking, especially in connection with online scams in which foreigners recruited for work under false pretenses are kept in conditions of virtual slavery and help perpetrate criminal fraud