ILLEGAL TRANSACTION: The court ruled that the woman, surnamed Yeh, had contravened Taiwan’s law that prohibits the ‘sale of human reproductive eggs’

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 27, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

A woman in Kaohsiung this month lost a lawsuit in which she was seeking to become the mother of twin girls born to a surrogate in Ukraine.

Despite the woman, surnamed Yeh (葉), presenting evidence that she paid NT$4.47 million (US$150,810), including fees for the surrogate mother, surrogacy agency, government registration and travel to Ukraine, the Kaohsiung District Court ruled that she had contravened Taiwan’s law that prohibits the “sale of human reproductive eggs.”

At the hearing, Yeh said that while she was not married, she wanted to raise children and had decided to emulate her friend, who had a baby born by a surrogate mother in Ukraine, where surrogacy is legal.

Yeh’s brother had agreed to be the sperm donor and to travel with his wife to Ukraine. Yeh had her brother signed an agreement that, after her brother returned to Taiwan with the baby, Yeh would register to adopt the child and become the legal mother of the infant, court documents showed.    [FULL  STORY]