Third-Party Reproduction in Thailand: A Guide for Asian Intended Parents

Summary: Third-Party Reproduction in Thailand

Thailand is world-renowned as a medical tourism destination, with a reputation for providing high-quality care at relatively affordable prices. Access to infertility treatments, including IVF, is widespread in Thailand, with over one hundred hospitals and clinics offering IVF throughout Bangkok and other cities, including both public and private institutions registered with the Department of Health Service Support of the Ministry of Public Health (1, 2). However, access to third party reproduction is restricted.

Third-party reproduction was common and fairly unregulated in Thailand until 2015, when a series of public scandals prompted passage of the Protection for Children Born through Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act, B.E. 2558 (2015) (“ART Act”), which outlawed commercial surrogacy and gamete and embryo donation, restricted surrogacy to a narrow set of Thai applicants, and prohibited brokering of third-party reproduction (3, 4). Altruistic surrogacy and non-commercial gamete donation remain permissible under specific conditions, but the importation and exportation of gametes or embryos, including a couple’s own embryos, are also restricted under the Act (3, 4).

Despite these restrictions, Thailand remains a popular destination for medical tourism, including infertility treatments. In January 2025, the Marriage Equality Act came into effect, making Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise same-sex marriage (5, 6). The Ministry of Public Health has since drafted proposed amendments to the ART Act that would expand surrogacy eligibility to legally married same-sex couples and to foreign couples, and would relax the export restrictions on embryos and gametes; as of mid-2025 these amendments remain under review and have not been enacted (7, 8, 9). Intended parents must navigate the legal landscape carefully and ensure they comply with the current regulations. Intended parents should seek legal advice to understand the permissible conditions for third-party reproduction and to avoid breaking the law, or consider countries like the USA, Canada, or Taiwan, with greater access to third party reproduction.

Is Egg Donation Legal in Thailand?

In Thailand, egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy are legal under certain circumstances. The National Legislative Assembly of Thailand enacted the Protection for Children Born Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act (ART Act) on 19 February 2015 (3, 4). The Act defines ART as “any medical scientific procedure that removes eggs or sperm from a human body for the purpose of unnatural pregnancy, including artificial insemination” of a third person (3). The Act established a special committee, the Committee for the Protection of Children Born through Assisted Reproductive Technologies, chaired by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Health and administered through the Department of Health Service Support (DHSS) (3, 4), to advise the Minister of Public Health about policies to protect children born through ART, in conformity with the purposes of the Act.

Because of the 2015 law, it is essential to seek legal assistance to check your eligibility for third party reproduction and avoid breaking the law in Thailand. For Thai nationals and Thai language speakers, there are a wide range of law firms to assist intended parents. For non-Thai nationals, lists of recommended lawyers may be available through your embassy or chamber of commerce.

For surrogacy, the intended parents and the gestational carrier must have a written agreement before pregnancy, indicating that the intended parents will be the legal parents of the child. (All cases of surrogacy must be approved by the Committee for the Protection of Children Born through Assisted Reproductive Technologies for approval before treatment begins (3, 4).

Availability of Donor Eggs, Sperm and Embryos in Thailand

In Thailand, use of donor eggs and sperm is available non-commercially under some circumstances. Under the Protection for Children Born Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act (ART Act), it is not legal to compensate donors in Thailand. The law stipulates that:

•       Trade of gametes/embryos and commercial surrogacy are prohibited (Sections 24, 36, and 48) (3)

•       Brokering acts and promotion of third-party reproduction are prohibited (Sections 27 and 49) (3, 4)

•       Export and import of gametes/embryos are prohibited (4, 10)

However, egg donation is still allowed as long as the donor has the same nationality as the egg recipient; also, the egg donation must not be commercial (not for profit). As a result, most donors are known to the recipient (typically a friend or relative), since brokering and commercial recruitment are illegal (11, 12).

Intended parents are not allowed to receive eggs from more than one donor per treatment cycle. The patient requiring egg donation will need to provide her marriage certificate, and her spouse must sign a letter of consent. The egg donor must also sign a letter of consent (11).

Egg donor qualifications, as applied by leading Thai fertility clinics and consistent with Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RTCOG) guidance, include (11, 13):

• Must be 20-35 years of age (or 20–40 if the donor is a relative of the recipient)

• Pass a physical and mental health assessment

• Must have the same nationality as the egg recipient

• If not a blood relative of the recipient, the donor must have, or have had, a legally recognised spouse (i.e. be married, divorced, or widowed) and present the corresponding certificate

• The spouse of the egg donor (if currently married) must sign a letter of consent

• Has not donated eggs more than three times in her lifetime and may not donate to more than one recipient per cycle

Sperm donation is legal in Thailand; however, commercial sperm donation is illegal (sperm donation for profit is prohibited in Thailand). The patient who requires sperm donation will need to provide her marriage certificate, and she and her spouse must sign letters of consent. The sperm donor must also sign a letter of consent. Also, the sperm donor is limited to use that results in pregnancies in no more than 10 recipient families (11).

Sperm donor qualifications include (11):

• Must be 20-45 years of age

• Pass a physical and mental health assessment

• Spouse of the sperm donor (if married) must sign a letter of consent

• Must not be a relative of the sperm recipient

• No history of drug abuse

• No history of sexually transmitted diseases

• No history of hereditary diseases

• No history of serious communicable disease (e.g. HIV/AIDS)

• The sperm donor must also agree to be screened for HIV/AIDS upon submitting the sample, and repeat the test six months later before use of the sperm in the procedure.

Egg Donor Compensation in Thailand

Under the Protection for Children Born Through Assisted Reproductive Technologies Act (ART Act), it is not legal to compensate donors in Thailand beyond reasonable expenses directly related to the donation. Trade in human gametes carries criminal penalties under Sections 24 and 48 of the Act (3, 4).

Anonymous, Open, and Known Donation in Thailand

Because of the ART Act’s prohibition on commercial gamete recruitment and brokering, and the practical requirement that donors share the recipient’s nationality, most donors are known to the recipient: typically a friend, sister, or other relative outside the prohibited degree. Anonymous donor matching through agencies is not legally available, and the ART Act prohibits promotion of third-party reproduction (Section 27) (3, 11).

Import and Export of Gametes and Embryos in Thailand

The importation and exportation of eggs, sperm and embryos to and from Thailand are tightly restricted under the ART Act and its implementing regulations (3, 4, 10). This section addresses the practical implications for both Thai and foreign intended parents.

Import of donor gametes from foreign sperm or egg banks

Intended parents in Thailand cannot purchase or otherwise procure donor eggs or donor sperm from foreign cryobanks and import them for use in a Thai clinic. The ART Act and its regulations restrict the cross-border movement of human gametes, and Thai clinics do not have legal authority to receive imported donor material from foreign sperm banks or egg banks. Intended parents using donor gametes in Thailand must source the donor domestically, subject to the rules described above (10, 11).

Export of gametes or embryos for use abroad

The ART Act prohibits the export of gametes and embryos from Thailand, including a person’s own gametes (4, 10). This means a couple who has undergone egg retrieval or created embryos in a Thai clinic generally cannot ship those gametes or embryos to a clinic in another country (for example, for surrogacy in the United States). Couples who wish to pursue cross-border treatment usually must travel to the destination country and undergo the full retrieval and fertilisation cycle there.

The export prohibition applies regardless of whether the embryos were created with the patient’s own gametes or with donor gametes, and regardless of whether the donor is Thai or foreign. The Act’s focus is on the cross-border movement of human reproductive material rather than on the donor’s status (4, 10).

Proposed reforms

The 2025 draft amendment to the ART Act, prepared by the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Health Service Support, would relax the export prohibition and permit the export of embryos, sperm, or eggs back to a foreign couple’s home country in defined circumstances and subject to approval by the Committee for the Protection of Children Born Using Medical Assisted Reproductive Technology (7, 8, 9). As of mid-2025 the amendment is under review by the Minister of Public Health and the cabinet and has not yet been enacted into law; intended parents should not assume that export will become available on any particular timeline (7, 8).

TAKE AWAYS:

• Donor eggs and donor sperm must be sourced within Thailand from a donor sharing the recipient’s nationality and meeting the qualifications above; foreign sperm- or egg-bank material cannot be imported (10, 11).

• Embryos created in Thailand cannot be shipped abroad for transfer or surrogacy in another jurisdiction (4, 10).

• Intended parents based outside Thailand who wish to access surrogacy in another country need to undergo egg retrieval and embryo creation in that destination country rather than in Thailand.

• Couples should obtain Thai legal advice, as violations of the Act carry criminal penalties (3, 4).

Is Surrogacy Legal in Thailand?

The 2015 law prohibits surrogacy for foreign couples, but allows surrogacy in some cases for Thai nationals (3, 4, 14). If only one intended parent is Thai, the couple must have been married for at least 3 years. Commercial surrogacy is not allowed, and a surrogate who carries a child for profit, or anyone arranging commercial surrogacy, is liable to imprisonment for up to ten years and/or a fine of up to 200,000 baht (3, 4). Acting as an agent for surrogacy is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years and/or a fine of up to 100,000 baht  (3, 4).

Intended parents must be lawful spouses, and the wife cannot be pregnant. Under the current text of the ART Act (Section 21), surrogacy is restricted to opposite-sex married couples. Although the Marriage Equality Act came into effect on 23 January 2025 and recognises same-sex marriage in Thailand (5, 6), the ART Act has not yet been amended to extend surrogacy eligibility to same-sex couples; the draft amendments described above remain pending (7, 8, 9, 15).

The gestational carrier (surrogate) must: (1) be a blood relative of either of the applicants, but may not be either applicants’ parent or descendant (so a sister, cousin, aunt, or niece may serve, but a mother or daughter may not); and (2) have had a pregnancy before the surrogacy. The approval of the husband of the surrogate mother is required if the surrogate is married, and the eggs of the surrogate may not be used in the surrogacy arrangement (3, 4).

If the applicants do not have any blood relatives who can serve as the surrogate, they will be able to apply based on exceptions granted by the Committee for the Protection of Children Born through Assisted Reproductive Technologies under criteria issued by the Minister of Public Health; one Thai-language report cited in academic commentary estimated that around 30% of approved surrogacy cases in the years following enactment of the Act involved non-relatives allowed under this exception, although consolidated official statistics are not publicly available (14).

Can LGBTQIA+ People Access IVF and Surrogacy in Thailand?

Partially. The Marriage Equality Act (Civil and Commercial Code Amendment Act (No. 24), B.E. 2567) was endorsed by the King on 24 September 2024 and took effect on 23 January 2025, making Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia and the third in Asia to recognise same-sex marriage (5, 6). Both Thai and foreign same-sex couples can register their marriages in Thailand.

Because Thai fertility law requires intended parents to be legally married and to present a marriage certificate before IVF or IUI, the practical effect of the Marriage Equality Act is that legally married same-sex couples are no longer categorically excluded from IVF treatment using their own gametes (or, subject to the rules above, a Thai donor’s gametes), and clinics will accept a same-sex marriage certificate (5, 16, 17).

Surrogacy, however, is governed separately by the ART Act, which still refers to “husband and wife” and to opposite-sex applicants. Until the ART Act is amended, same-sex couples cannot access surrogacy in Thailand, even if legally married (7, 8, 9, 15). A draft amendment that would replace “husband” and “wife” with the gender-neutral term “spouses” and extend surrogacy to same-sex married couples was under review by the Ministry of Public Health and the cabinet as of mid-2025 but had not been enacted (7, 8, 9). Intended parents should not assume that the law will pass soon for the purposes of fertility planning.

Can Single Women Use IVF in Thailand?

No. Single women can freeze their eggs in Thailand, but cannot fertilize the eggs using IVF until married. Thai law requires couples to be legally married in order to undergo IUI and/or IVF. Couples must present a marriage certificate at the clinic or hospital (16, 17, 18).

How to Choose an IVF Clinic in Thailand

There are over one hundred IVF clinics in Thailand, and IVF is offered in many major hospitals of excellent quality in Thailand. Mandatory certifications for IVF clinics and hospitals offering IVF in Thailand are:

• Medical Council of Thailand (MCT): Clinics must be certified and licensed by the MCT to ensure they meet the necessary standards for medical practice (20).

• Department of Health Service Support (DHSS): Part of the Ministry of Public Health, the DHSS is responsible for licensing healthcare facilities, including IVF clinics. Clinics must obtain a license from DHSS to operate legally. DHSS is responsible for overseeing surrogacy approvals under the ART Act and for licensing of health-business establishments more generally (1, 2).

In addition, some clinics and individual doctors or lab managers seek certifications from other Thai professional bodies:

• Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynacologists (RTCOG): Under the Medical Council’s ART Notifications, the practitioner responsible for ART services in any organisation must hold a subspecialty certificate from RTCOG, and RTCOG supervises the standards of ART practice on behalf of the Medical Council (13, 20). This professional body also offers membership and professional development opportunities for obstetricians and gynecologists, including those specializing in reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI).

• Thai Society for Reproductive Medicine (TSRM): Membership of and engagement with the TSRM (founded 1997, originally the Assisted Reproductive Society of Thailand and renamed in 2001) (21) is not mandatory but can provide additional credibility and recognition for clinics specializing in reproductive medicine.

Some clinics in Thailand have sought out the Reproductive Technology Accreditation Committee (RTAC) certification, which is provided by a committee of the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ; formerly the Fertility Society of Australia). This means that the clinic complies with the FSANZ international Code of Practice. Once certified, clinics are regularly reviewed by an independent certification body of the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand (22, 23).

Preimplantation genetic screening is legal and widespread in Thailand, but its use for non-medical sex selection is prohibited under the Medical Council of Thailand’s Notification No. 21/2544 (2001) on Service Standards for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (24). In the case that an IVF patient conceives multiples, multifetal pregnancy reduction is more accessible than it was historically. Following amendments to Sections 301 and 305 of the Thai Penal Code that took effect on 7 February 2021 and a 2022 Ministry of Public Health regulation, abortion is legal on request up to 12 weeks of gestation and lawful between 12 and 20 weeks after mandatory counselling, with exceptions for fetal abnormality and other grounds (25, 26, 27). Availability of selective fetal reduction in practice still varies between hospitals and clinics, however, and patients should confirm availability with their treating clinic in advance.

Average Costs of IVF in Thailand