Australian couple leaves Thailand with child born to surrogate mother
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Version 0 of 1. An Australian same-sex couple prevented from departing Thailand with a child born to a surrogate mother has now been allowed to leave by immigration authorities, following background checks. Reports said the couple had flown to Singapore with the child of a Thai surrogate mother, leaving behind a growing controversy over commercial surrogacy. Reports alleged some private hospitals caring for surrogate mothers in Thailand had moved the women to lower-cost government hospitals, fearing a legal backlash from the crackdown on the lucrative commercial surrogacy industry. The couple returned to the Australian embassy on Friday to seek further assistance after being prevented from leaving on Thursday night. The ABC said one of the couples had arrived in Singapore with children born in July to a Thai surrogate mother. Thai officials said just one couple had been halted at the airport. However, AAP was informed two same-sex couples, each with a child, as well as couples from the United States and Europe, had been prevented from leaving due to concerns over adequate documentation. Officials said all the couples were linked to the same IVF clinic in Bangkok, now shut down by Thai authorities on suspicion of operating without authorisation. The airport incident led to the Australian mbassador to Thailand, James Wise, holding talks with officials from the Thai foreign ministry, and other ministries. Australia has been pressing Thailand to allow for a “transitional arrangement” to be put in place to assist 200 Australian couples reported to have an estimated 150 babies from surrogate Thai mothers. A Department of Foreign Affairs statement to AAP on Saturday said the Australian embassy in Bangkok was assisting Australians with children born by surrogacy in Thailand “who have been prevented from departing the country in recent days”. The department said while it was not in a position to comment on individual cases due to privacy concerns, “we continue to encourage Thai authorities to adopt transitional arrangements for any new measures they may introduce, so concerned Australians are not unduly affected”. Thai officials had said the children had to receive court clearance before any departure, a process that could take several months. Reports have put costs for a commercial surrogacy in Thailand at up to $US42,000 ($A45,500) with the surrogate mother receiving between $A10,000 and $A15,000. The controversy was triggered by the birth of twins to a 21-year-old Thai woman for a Western Australian couple, whom she then accused of abandoning the boy, who has Down’s syndrome, taking his healthy sister to Australia. It was later revealed the Australian man had faced paedophilia charges in the 1980s and 1990s. The Thai surrogate mother has since called for her daughter to be returned to Thailand. Thailand’s military government subsequently called for a speeding up of draft laws that will ban commercial surrogacy, prohibit advertising or people acting as an agent or broker as well as the trade in eggs and sperm. |