13 Filipino women and 3 babies freed from Cambodian prison after surrogacy conviction
Surrogacy is banned in Cambodia, and the women, convicted of attempted human trafficking, were among 24 foreign women detained in September
Cambodia has pardoned and sent home 13 Philippine women who were jailed over a scheme to become surrogate mothers, an outlawed practice, the Philippine government said on Sunday.
They were among 24 foreign women detained by Cambodian police in September and convicted and sentenced to four years in prison on December 2 for attempted cross-border human trafficking.
The women “and three of their babies” were sent home to Manila early Sunday and taken to a government shelter for trafficking victims, the Social Welfare Department said in a statement.
Ten of the repatriated women are still pregnant, said Irene Dumlao, the Social Welfare Department’s Assistant Secretary.
“All 13 [women] departed Phnom Penh and arrived safely in Manila following the grant of royal pardon by His Majesty Norodom Sihamoni,” the Philippine foreign ministry said in a separate statement.
The Cambodian court ruling had said it had strong evidence showing that the 13 had “the intention … to have babies to sell to a third person in exchange for money, which is an act of human trafficking”.
