The regime has approved, in principle, a bill seeking to ban commercial surrogacy following a series of scandals over the past few weeks.
Turning point: The discovery of a "surrogacy factory" with nine babies all with the same father - likely a Japanese - stirred officials into taking action.
Spokeswoman of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), Pattamaporn Rattanadilok na Phuket, confirmed that the bill had been approved in principle by the NCPO assembly chaired by army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha.
The proposed legislation will then be submitted to the National Legislative Assembly for final endorsement.
She said the bill's aim is to protect surrogate babies and bring in measures to hand down criminal punishment against those who are involved in commercial surrogacy.
Gen Prayuth also voiced concern at the meeting that media coverage has only emphasised the negatives of surrogacy over the past few weeks, which has led to Thailand being portrayed as a commercial surrogacy hub, spoiling the country's reputation.
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The junta chief told the meeting he believed that surrogacy still has many positives, when handled properly. Surrogacy is an advancement in reproductive technology to help couples have children, Ms Pattamaporn quoted Gen Prayuth as saying.
Highlights of the bill, known as the Protection of Children Born as a Result of Assisted Reproductive Technologies Bill, are that commissioning parents will be granted parental rights to the surrogate child instead of the surrogate mother, currently regulated by the Civil and Commercial Code.
Sappasit Kumprabhan, a veteran child-rights activist who participated in drafting the surrogacy bill, said that it will have retroactive effect in terms of the status of a child born through surrogacy. However, the punishment for commercial surrogacy will not be retroactive.
"Assuming the bill is implemented today, a surrogate child born before or after law enforcement will be automatically the legitimate child of the commissioning parents," he said.
The bill’s temporary provisions state that commissioning parents can petition the court to issue an order providing them with parental rights for a child born under surrogacy.
"There is no problem if the fertilised embryo is produced from the commissioning parents' sperm and egg. But if it is produced by donated sperm and the egg of a commissioning mother, or by donated egg and sperm of a commissioning father, the bill provides a route for the commissioning mother and father to claim parental rights over the child," Mr Sappasit said.