Study reveals hidden costs of global surrogacy boom for Thai women
Research into transnational surrogacy exposes how reproductive industry business models exploit surrogate mothers' mobility—including illegal border crossing—to maintain profit margins. The findings carry implications for regulators, insurance companies, and fertility clinics operating across borders seeking to understand labor exploitation risks in a largely unmonitored $14+ billion global market.
Originaltitel: Travelling Thai Surrogate Mothers: Required and Restricted Mobility in Transnational Surrogacy
<p>In response to the changing landscape of transnational surrogacy, the industry has introduced flexible business models requiring women to move within and across borders to act as surrogate mothers. However, knowledge about their experiences remain vague, particularly concerning women traveling abroad under illegal conditions. Building upon interviews with Thai surrogate mothers, I demonstrate how their im/mobility reveals critical insights into labor conditions and power relations and is formed within the global reproductive industry as well as the specific national context. I also argue that the women's im/mobility and flexibility are central when making themselves bioavailable for the global surrogacy market.</p>