BI raises concerns about surrogacy-related human trafficking

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) is sounding the alarm over the increase in human trafficking cases involving women recruited for illegal surrogacy abroad, following the repatriation of seven victims on October 23, 2024.

These women, aged between 20 and 30, were recruited to work as surrogate mothers for unknown clients abroad, the BI said in a press release on Saturday, November 2, 2024.

Merriam-Webster defines a surrogate mother as a “woman who becomes pregnant by artificial insemination or by implantation of a fertilized egg resulting from in vitro fertilization for the purpose of carrying the fetus to term for another person or persons.”

According to the BI, three of the victims left the country under the guise of visiting relatives, but fell victim to misleading promises of surrogacy.

The remaining four had no records and likely left in an unauthorized manner, the BI added.

BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said investigations reveal a scheme in which traffickers recruit online and then arrange complex travel across multiple borders to avoid detection.

“The Philippines is being targeted by human traffickers who lure women with offers of surrogacy. We urge Filipinos to avoid these offers as surrogacy abroad often carries serious legal risks,” Viado said.

In October, 20 Filipino women were rescued by authorities after allegedly being trafficked to become surrogate mothers. Of the twenty women, thirteen were artificially pregnant.

The pregnant women would be transferred to another country where they would give birth.

The seven others were deported by the Cambodian government for violations of immigration law.

BI agents also intercepted a 37-year-old woman recruited for surrogacy who left for Georgia on October 15.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, previously called for a congressional investigation into this “new form” of a human trafficking scheme targeting Filipino women. (JGS/SunStar Philippines)