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Cambodia Upholds Jail Term for Australian Nurse in Surrogacy Case

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Tammy Davis-Charles, second left, gets off from a van at an appeals court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Monday – Photo AP

PHNOM PENH – An appeals court on Monday upheld the prison sentence of an Australian woman convicted of providing commercial surrogacy services in Cambodia.

Judge Kim Dany said the appeals court found the lower court conviction of Tammy Davis-Charles complied with Cambodian law and therefore upheld the verdict. She did not take questions from media during the court appearance.

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Australian nurse Tammy Davis-Charles arrives at court in Phnom Penh on January 8, 2018. Her appeal against an 18-month jail sentence for surrogacy offenses was dismissed. – Photo Naran Lon

Davis-Charles is serving one and a half years in prison after being convicted last August. During the court appearance last year, Davis-Charles said she has “lost everything” since her arrest and wants to be reunited with her family in Australia, including her twin sons.

Cambodia banned commercial surrogacy in 2016 after becoming a popular destination for would-be parents seeking women to give birth to their children.

Davis-Charles was arrested in November 2016, within weeks of the ban.

She has said she launched her business in Cambodia only after consulting three local lawyers who assured her the clinic was legal. The surrogates were paid $10,000 for each pregnancy, she has said.

Surrogacy costs are much lower in developing countries than in nations such as the United States and Australia, where services cost around $150,000. The surrogacy business boomed in Cambodia after being restricted in neighbouring Thailand, in India and in Nepal.

After Cambodia’s crackdown, the trade has shifted to neighboring Laos.

 

By Sopheng Cheang
The Associated Press

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