By Maria Carcaboso Abrie and Punyawee Polsen
Bangkok Jun 4 (EFE).- Na (name changed) travelled from Thailand to Georgia apparently for a foreign couple looking to have children through surrogacy, but what she saw made her change her mind.
However, to be able to return home, she had to choose between donating her eggs or coughing up the money supposedly invested in her.
This is one of the many examples of dark transnational networks operating in the fertility business in the Asian country.
Employment Offer
Looking for a job on Facebook, Na, a woman in her 30s, found an offer to be a surrogate for third parties in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. She was promised 400,000 baht ($11,600) after giving birth and a monthly allowance of about 30,000 bat ($900).
«They told me that a foreign couple wanted a Thai woman to become a surrogate mother and carry a pregnancy for them,» Na told EFE.
She agreed without knowing that the Thai intermediary who proposed it was allegedly working for BabyCome, a Chinese company believed to recruit women to gestate in Georgia under coercive conditions, according to testimonies gathered.
Bangkok-Tbilisi Through Chinese Operators
Na traveled about 6,000 kilometers (over 3,700 miles), with stops in Dubai and Armenia, to reach Georgia, but the conditions she saw there were not what was agreed upon, leading her to back down.
«When I arrived in Georgia, what I saw was a group of Chinese investors, and around 100 Thai women staying there. The details we had agreed on in Thailand did not match what I encountered there,» Na said.
She described a building complex where dozens of women were subjected to hormonal injections and repeated attempts at embryo implantation. These women were threatened with amputations of hands or feet if they tried to leave.
Alarmed, she sought to return to Thailand, but the network, allegedly BabyCome, had confiscated her passport and made her choose between donating her eggs or paying 70,000 baht ($2,140) to leave.
Na paid the network by borrowing money and using savings she had made for her son, before she was allowed to leave.
Interpol Rescue, Government Action
After returning to Thailand in early 2025, Na reported her case to the Pavena Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting women and children in the Asian country, with the intention of helping other women trapped in Tbilisi.
The foundation then coordinated with Interpol, and an operation was launched that led to three Thai nationals being able to leave Tbilisi in 2025, while many others still remain there.
«They simply wanted to return home, just like Na, because the conditions were completely different from what had been promised to them,» the nonprofit’s founder Pavena Hongsakul told EFE.
Meanwhile, BabyCome is under investigation in Thailand by the anti-human trafficking division, under the Ministry of Justice, the agency confirmed to EFE.
The organization is listed on websites under the umbrella of two companies: Chongqing Zhouyu Health Management Consulting, a Chinese medical consulting firm abroad; and IHMED, a Taiwanese fertility center.
Safety of Surrogate Children
Moreover, the question also arises concerning the children born out of the surrogacy network and their potential abuse.
«There are no real parents waiting to take these children. Why do they want these children? And once the babies are born, who will they be given to? That is the truly frightening part,” stressed Hongsakul, who has formerly served as Thailand’s Minister of Social Development.
“Will the children be safe in whatever family they end up with? Could they be abused, physically harmed, or sexually assaulted in the future? And in the case of the eggs, what are they being used for?» she said.
Cheaper, Illegal Alternatives
Spanish lawyer Ana Miramontes, specializing in surrogacy and adoption, told EFE that «transporting women from one country to another to carry a child» was an illegal way of offering «cheaper alternatives.»
Surrogate families in Georgia pay about $80,000, including expenses and compensation for the pregnant woman, compared to $150,000 in the United States, where the practice is also regulated for same-sex couples.
If women back down, networks such as BabyCome demand «a return on the investment they have made, even if it is the plane ticket they have paid for,» said Miramontes.
According to the Pavena Foundation, the women recruited for surrogacy are usually unemployed mothers between 30 and 40 years old.
Georgia – A Rising Surrogacy Destination
Georgia has become a growing hotbed of surrogacy following the decline of the sector in Thailand, India and Cambodia due to legal restrictions, and in Ukraine due to the ongoing war.
An employee of a Georgian fertility clinic, who asked not to be named, confirmed to EFE that in recent years the arrival of foreign women for surrogacy has increased, especially from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Thailand.
She said Georgia, which allows surrogacy only for heterosexual couples, is a small country and there are not enough Georgian women available to meet the demand.
A decade ago, Thailand was one of the main global surrogacy destinations, but after several scandals, such as that of an abandoned baby with Down syndrome, the authorities banned it for foreigners in 2015.
While the Thai government has been considering reinstating it, the practice continues, but with the departure of women, such as Na, from the country to other destinations that permit it. EFE
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