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Japanese Man Granted Paternity Rights to 13 Children Born to Surrogate Mothers

posted by Fnord666 on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:08AM   Printer-friendly
from the they-know-what-causes-that-now dept.

takyon writes:

Mitsutoki Shigeta: 'Baby factory' dad wins paternity rights

A Bangkok court has awarded paternity rights to a Japanese man over 13 babies he fathered through Thai surrogate mothers. The ruling allows Mitsutoki Shigeta, 28, to pursue custody of the children.

The son of a wealthy entrepreneur, he caused controversy in 2014 when he was revealed to have fathered at least 16 babies via surrogates in Thailand. His so-called "baby factory" case and others led to Thailand banning commercial surrogacy for foreigners.

Mr Shigeta, who was not present at the trial, was awarded "sole parent" rights after the Thai surrogates forfeited their rights, according to the court, which did not name him.

"For the happiness and opportunities which the 13 children will receive from their biological father, who does not have a history of bad behaviour, the court rules that all 13 born from surrogacy to be legal children of the plaintiff," Bangkok's Central Juvenile Court said in a statement.

Also at Newsweek and ABC.

Related: Medical Ethics of Multiples, Surrogacy, and Abortion

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:17AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:17AM (#641517)

    He isn't wasting his inherited money on trinkets. He is mass-producing the next generation for Japan.

    Just think what Jeff Bezos could do for America with his $100,000,000,000. If it takes $1,000,000 to fully raise a child in moderate luxury, he could raise 100,000 kids.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:29AM (1 child)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:29AM (#641522) Homepage Journal

      The hardest thing for me about raising kids has been finding the time. I know friends who leave their business so they can spend more time with their children, and I say, "Gimme a break!" My children could not love me more if I spent 15 times more time with them.

      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:24AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:24AM (#641552)

        My children could not love me more if I spent 15 times more time with them.

        This is like both the truest, and the saddest, thing I have ever read on SN.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:35AM

      by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:35AM (#641526) Journal

      Jeff Bezos: reusable rockets will let a trillion people colonise the solar system [techradar.com]

      For Bezos, colonising space is a more a simple necessity for continued life on Earth. The compound effect of the incremental increase in energy requirements will mean us having to cover every inch of Earth in solar cells, he said, while the solar system offers virtually unlimited energy resources.

      “We can harvest resources from asteroids, from Near-Earth Objects, and harvest solar energy from a much broader surface area – and continue to do amazing things,” he said. The alternative, he said, was an era of stasis and stagnation on Earth, where we are forced to control population and limit energy usage per capita.

      “I don’t think stasis is compatible with freedom or liberty, and I sure as hell think it’s going to be a very boring world – I want my grandchildren’s grandchildren to be in a world of pioneering, exploration and expansion throughout the solar system.”

      He also suggested that exploration and colonisation of the solar system would make it possible to support one trillion people.

      “Then we would have 1,000 Einstein’s and 1,000 Mozarts, how cool would that be?” he said.

      “What’s holding us back from making that next step is that space travel is just too darned expensive because we throw the rockets away. We need to build reusable rockets and that’s what Blue Origin is dedicated to.”

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:40AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:40AM (#641529)

    So who is the genetic mother? Or was he just doing what wealth Japanese men do in Thailand? What happened to the other three? And why does Bezos keep showing up?

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:51AM (3 children)

      by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:51AM (#641533) Journal

      Jeff Bezos is said to be the #1 richest person in the world. Probably due to Amazon stock. He could pay a lot of women to have his seed.

      As for Mitsutoki Shigeta, the genetic mother(s) are apparently random according to Reuters [reuters.com]:

      The man had his sperm fertilize donor eggs, which were then planted in the wombs of the surrogate mothers in 2013, according to a press statement given by the court. No details were given on where the donor eggs were from.

      NPR [npr.org] says:

      In addition to the 9 babies discovered in the Bangkok apartment, police learned that Shigeta had an additional four Thai children and three more in India. It is believed that the number of children Shigeta has fathered is 20.

      And finally, CNN [cnn.com] says:

      Shigeta fathered 17 children in total via surrogacy in Thailand before 2015. Four of the 17 children he fathered had previously been placed in his custody, and weren't part of the raid or included in this court case. He has another two children by surrogates in India, according to his lawyer.

      So there's not a lot of agreement about the facts in this case. To an amusing extent.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:06AM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:06AM (#641539)

    Rich young man fathers a lot of babies with foreigners, does not run away.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:21AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:21AM (#641549)

      Believes quantity makes up for quality and size after IVFing at least 20 surrogate women across at least two cuntries.

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:16AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:16AM (#641545)

    You are a young rich fuck, you want off-springs, you should go bang as many hot/smart/otherwise desirable chicks as you can, but don't get married.

    What the heck is point of paying surrogate mothers?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:24AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:24AM (#641553)

      Alternative, since he is Japanese, is concern over sanitation of non-japanese women.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:38AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @01:38AM (#641559)

        You one of them english "teacher" in Japan, ain't you?

        Wake up, come home, get a proper job, build a life yourself. Stop being an embarrassment.

    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @07:21AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @07:21AM (#641677)

      In most of the non-western world, fucking and not marrying is considered rape. That's one of the reason why you hear so much about rape epidemic in the non-western world - their definition of rape is quite different from yours.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:55PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 22 2018, @12:55PM (#641771)

      With a surrogate, there is a contract that specifies terms.

      Someone with assets who just knocks up just anyone can get dragged into court where someone besides the 2 of you gets to decide the terms--in particular, financial terms.
      That's called child support, [wikipedia.org] though it often turns out to be adult female support.
      ...and if you don't pay, you can have your wages garnished or assets seized.
      Piss the judge off enough and you go to jail.

      ...and it seems that this guy actually wants a family of a sort.
      With no contract, a judge can decide that you get no contact with your offspring even though you're paying for the kid.

      -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

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