Abandoned … baby Gammy was left with his Thai surrogate mother after his Australian parents discovered he had Down syndrome. Source: Supplied
AN Australian couple abandoned their newborn baby son, born to a poverty-stricken surrogate, after they discovered he had Down syndrome.
The unnamed couple used Thai surrogate Pattharamon Janbua, 21, after they were unable to conceive naturally. Ms Pattharamon became pregnant with twins and when tests at the four-month mark showed the baby boy, named Gammy, had Down syndrome the couple reportedly told her to have an abortion.
Ms Pattharamon, a Buddhist, refused.
When the twins were born in Bangkok the couple took Gammy’s sister — who was born healthy — home but refused to take the boy, Fairfax media reports.
The couple reportedly paid $11,700 for Ms Pattharamon to be a surrogate and the surrogacy agency promised her another $1637 when it was discovered she was carrying twins.
Ms Pattharamon never met the couple. She is now desperately trying to raise money to care for Gammy, who has a congenital heart condition and is critically ill.
“I would like to tell Thai women — don’t get into this business as a surrogate. Don’t just think only for money … if something goes wrong no one will help us and the baby will be abandoned from society, then we have to take responsibility for that,” she told Fairfax.
Critically ill … Gammy’s surrogate mother is trying to raise funds to pay for an operation to treat his congenital heart condition. Source: Supplied
The family has set up a Hope for Gammy campaign to help fund the baby’s operations.
The campaign is reportedly being supported by Australian embassy staff in Bangkok. It has raised more than $14,500 so far.
“6 month old baby Gammy was born in Bangkok with down syndrome and a congenital heart condition. He was abandoned by his family and is being cared for by a young Thai woman who does not have the funds for his desperately needed medical treatment,” the GoFundMe page says.
“ Please make a donation so that he can have these operations and improve his quality of life. All monies raised will be kept in trust and will only be used for the care and wellbeing of Gammy.”
Furious Australians rushed to donate to the campaign, labelling the Australian couple’s actions appalling.
“I have a surrogate daughter and appalled that this could be allowed to happen. Selfish, selfish people — surrogacy should be regulated onshore IN Australia, to stop this sort of thing from occurring,” wrote Stuart Rees.
Shally Backus wrote: “A warm welcome to this beautiful world little fella. Sorry your start was a little rocky — not all Australians are like this :)”
Rebecca Brown was also outraged, writing: “The behaviour of these Australian parents is appalling–to leave one of their children to die because he is not “perfect”?? SHAME on them. I pray for every blessing for Gammy and his Thai family. Hopefully Australians can band together and show them a different picture of Australian nature.”
Left behind … Gammy will never get to meet his twin sister, who was taken to Australia after they were born. Source: Supplied
Thai health officials have now moved to crack down on the surrogacy business, declaring this week that the only legal surrogacy cases were between a married couple unable to conceive who use a blood relative to bear their child.
Surrogacy contracts with unmarried or same-sex couples, and paid surrogacy were declared illegal.
They also declared that foreign couples taking a child from its mother to another country required permission from Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Without permission they would be deemed to be violating human trafficking laws.
Originally published as Aussie couple abandon disabled baby