Yahoo - AFP, 1 Aug 2014
The "Hope for Gammy" fundraising page has so far raised more than $98,000 for a Down's Syndrome baby who was left with his surrogate mother (Photo: Gerard Julien) |
Well-wishers
on Friday had raised nearly $100,000 for a baby reportedly left with his
surrogate Thai mother after his Australian parents discovered he had Down's
Syndrome and returned home with his healthy twin sister.
Pattaramon
Chanbua from Chonburi province, southeast of Bangkok, agreed via an agent to be
a surrogate for the couple for a fee of Aus$16,000 ($14,900), giving birth to
twins -- a boy and a girl -- in December, according to press reports.
But when
the Australians discovered the boy, named Gammy by his surrogate family, had
Down's Syndrome they abandoned him in Thailand and returned to Australia with
only the healthy girl, Australia's ABC said.
"The
money that was offered was a lot for me. In my mind, with that money, one, we
can educate my children, two, we can repay our debt," said Pattaramon,
already a mother to two children, in an interview with the broadcaster in Chonburi.
But instead
the 21-year-old was left to care for the boy who also suffers from a
life-threatening heart condition requiring expensive treatment she cannot
afford, according to ABC.
"I
don't know what to do. I chose to have him... I love him, he was in my tummy
for nine months," she said in the interview.
Pattaramon
has never met Gammy's Australian parents, according to Thai newspaper Thairath,
which broke the story of Gammy last week, and their identities remain unknown.
"They
(the surrogacy agency) told me to carry a baby for a family that does not have
children... They said it would be a baby in a tube," she said.
A spokesman
for Australia's foreign affairs department told AFP Canberra was
"concerned" by the reports and was in consultation with Thai
authorities over surrogacy issues.
"The
alleged circumstances of the case raise broader legal and other issues relating
to surrogacy in Thailand," he said.
Many
foreign couples travel to Thailand, a popular medical tourism hub, to use its
in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) services despite the unclear legal situation
surrounding surrogacy.
Tares
Krassanairawiwong, a Thai public health ministry official, said it was illegal
to pay for surrogacy in Thailand.
"Surrogacy
can be done in Thailand but it has to comply with the laws... A surrogate has
to be related to the intended parents and no money can be involved."
The reports
about Gammy's abandonment have triggered hundreds to donate to a fundraising
page created for him last week.
By late
Friday the "Hope for Gammy" page had raised more than $98,000.
It also
carried scores of comments, many of which expressed outrage at the boy's
abandonment by his parents.
"May
this selfish and heartless couple be exposed and shamed for this horrible
neglect!" said one.
Related Articles:
Baby Gammy may be given Australian citizenship, government suggests
Abandoned baby draws attention to surrogacy law
Baby Gammy may be given Australian citizenship, government suggests
Abandoned baby draws attention to surrogacy law
Baby Gammy
along with his mother and siblings at home
in Thailand. Photograph: ABC
TV.
|
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