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The unnamed parents left their biological son Gammy, who has Down syndrome, with the poverty-stricken 21-year-old Thai surrogate whom they had employed to carry their child.
Instead they returned home to Australia with only Gammy’s twin sister, who is not affected by the genetic condition.
The desperate plight of Gammy, who has remained in the care of his surrogate mother Pattharamon Janbua, was made public because she and her impoverished family cannot afford to pay for vital medical treatment for Gammy’s congenital heart condition.
Without surgery, he may not survive.
With Gammy’s story making headlines across Australia today, more than $57,000 has been raised in an online campaign to raise money for his treatment.
But the case has also triggered a legal crackdown by Thai authorities, which may prevent other “hundreds” of other Australian couples receiving babies that are currently being carried by surrogates in Thailand.
Januba, a villager who became a surrogate to get her family out of debt, became pregnant after being injected with the Australian woman’s fertilised eggs.
She was reportedly offered about $11,700 for the procedure, pregnancy and birth by an agent, who promised her an extra $1673 to have the second baby as well when it was discovered she was carrying twins.
But when the couple – understood to be an Australian man and an ethnic-Asian woman – discovered the baby had Down syndrome four months into the pregnancy, they said they did not want the boy and asked Januba to have him aborted.
“I didn’t agree because I am afraid of sin,” Januba, a Buddhist, told The Sydney Morning Herald.
When the twins were born at a Bangkok hospital, the agent came and took the baby girl but left the boy behind. Januba felt sorry for Gammy and told the Herald, “But I think this is not a bad karma… it’s good karma that make us be together.”
The Thai surrogate never met the Australian couple and said she was not paid the rest of the $2341 owed to her by the agent.
She said she’d advise other Thai women against becoming a surrogate, irrespective of the money.
