To think if you pay for a surrogate baby that you decide you don't want you should pay for the op he needs.

[sashh]

An Australian couple have paid a Thai woman to be a surrogate, she had twins but one has Down Syndrome so they left him behind and took his sister home.

He has a hole in the heart (news reporting that it is in addition to DS, actually it is more likely part of the DS) and his mum can't afford his op.

Surely the least you can do is pay for his bloomin' op?

Obviously there should have been an agreement with who pays for what under what circumstances but in reality is a poor person in a developing country going to think about that?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-28617912

www.abc.net.au/news/2014-08-01/mother-of-thai-baby-abandoned-by-surrogate-parents-struggles-to/5642478

What a difficult situation all around.

I hope both twins have a good life in the long run. Every child deserves to be wanted and loved.

It reminds me of this case many years ago... Julia Hollander Mail Link

They would have to adopt wouldn't they? I thought that was the deal with surrogacy regardless of genetics.

I hope this thread is not upsetting parents with children conceived through surrogacy.

I am not anti sorrogacy.

I dont know if he is the dad it was ivf so maybe

Yes they would need to adopt them

It's just hideous. I have no issue with them asking for a termination. The surrogate didn't want to. It's her body, her choice, regardless of the genetic parentage of the baby.

The result is that the baby exists, and that couple should have taken responsibility for its wellbeing. Even if it was just financially.

You can discuss anything you like in advance, and even sign on the dotted line. But you're not dealing with two equal parties, with equal negotiating strength. Where is a poor Thai or Indian woman going to find the money to challenge any breach of contract when she gets fucked over?

Oh maybe not if he was the biological parent im not sure now.

We call them 'Australian' but could they have originated from somewhere else where thoughts about this sort of thing are different?

I can not understand how they could abandon him, knowing he will die. You'd think they would have provided financial help for him, for the rest of his life.

Imagine if their dd finds out what they did to her twin? They must be idiots.

My understanding is that she was not genetically linked to the child but I'm not sure.

I am against surrogacy when it involves women who are dirt poor in countries where there is no meaningful regulation.

Thoughts on what were different baby not suitible so abandon him thats a pretty shit thought for any country really

"The last info re the fact they actually wanted the woman to have an abortion and she refused is giving a new light to that story. The couple was very clear they didn't want a child with DS and the surrogate chose to over ride their wishes. I'm not sure whose responsibility it is in these circumstances to take that decision. "

There is no new light to that story. Every woman should have autonomy over her body. You should not be able to force a woman to continue with a pregnancy, or terminate one. The repercussions of that are further reaching in this situation, because you end up with a child that you didn't want. Sucks boo to you if the decision doesn't fall your way. Not your body. Not your decision.

I might have chosen to terminate a child with a disability, as is my right, if that child is within my own body. That's the clincher here.

Hang on, if this was 'womb only' surrogacy and they are non-identical twins then surely more than one must have been implanted. So twins can't have been a surprise. And I suspect healthy twins would not have been considered a problem.

Surely you have to factor in the fact that termination is not an option with surrogacy if the surrogate objects? You take on that risk and you take on that baby. This boggles my mind.

If the father is the genetic father he has no need to adopt , certainly under UK law.
He'd have same status as any father not married to mother which at the most basic is an obligation to support financially.

And I say this as someone who is strongly pro choice and is having all the antenatal tests.

The decision to terminate lies solely with the owner of the womb. If biological parenthood = right to choose we are opening up a whole can of worms.

It's a dreadful story. The total collected tonight seems to be around the AU$150,000 mark, so enough for the surgery and for the baby to be looked after. It is extremely poor behaviour on behalf of the Australian parents, but the surrogate is a lovely caring woman to want to look after him after the parents just left him behind. She could have just let him die, as it would appear to be the usual response there :( but she didn't. She made a noise about it.

There will also be some sort of agency behind this too the couple would have gone through normally is wonder what they think of it or did they just take their fee and run.

Babies Thank you for the link to the Julia Hollander article.

surely the agency sould also be held accountable, as the son of an autralian national isnt he an auatralian stuck in thailand? if nothing else the australian government should be trying to repatriate him to australia to at least be put into a first world care system, with full health care and a chance of a good adoption/fostering outcome. I hope australia investigates this case properly and that the "parents" are held to account over abandonment!

NP....Afaik baby Imogen ended up with three legal parents. Here is the blog for Imogen

Lessthanbeau, But would that be a 'better' life than he has now (with the proper medical support) with his surrogate mother ? Genuine question, I just wonder what the best situation would be now.

I would hazard a guess that there was no agency involved.

as the son of an autralian national isnt he an auatralian stuck in thailand?

No. A child born overseas to an Australian parent does not automatically become an Australian citizen. The child's parents have to apply for citizenship by descent for him/her...which they are obviously not going to do, in this case.

I'm just left feeling very sad reading this. The silver lining is that this Thai woman truly is an exceptional human being I hope she gets all the support she needs.

if nothing else the australian government should be trying to repatriate him to australia to at least be put into a first world care system, with full health care and a chance of a good adoption/fostering outcome.

How patronising. He is with the woman who has given birth to him, made him part of her family, loves him and has cared for him for 6 months.

If the Australian government are thinking of 'repatriating' him then they should be looking at relocating the entire family. And I think if they want to move it would be a reasonable outcome.

The 21-year-old Thai woman who carried him for 9 months already has a 6-year-old and 3-year-old child of her own. She probably doesn't want to uproot her family to move to Australia anyway.

The whole thing is a mess.