Rights to Parental Leave in case of Children Born Through Surrogacy

Abstract

              Surrogacy is a form of medically assisted reproductive technology (ART) that a woman (the surrogate) agrees to carry a baby through pregnancy on behalf of another person and then relinquishes the baby to the intended parent once the child was born. Even though surrogacy is nowadays licit under Thai laws subjected to some conditions laid down by the Protection for Children Born Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act, B.E. 2558 (2015), the rights to parental leave are not in line with the specificities of giving birth through surrogacy in which the legal mother, according to section 29 of such Act, does not carry and deliver her legitimate child. This article suggests that the means of giving birth through ART based on the aforementioned act should be taken into account for the revision of rules and policy on parental leave in Thailand in order that the intended parents are entitled to equivalent rights concerning parental leave.