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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/11005285/Australian-couple-abandon-surrogate-twin-with-Downs-syndrome-but-keep-his-sister.html

 

Australian Couple "Abandon" Surrogate Twin "Baby Gammy" with Down's Syndrome - But Keep His Sister.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/thailand/11035743/Thailand-bans-surrogate-babies-from-leaving-after-Baby-Gammy-controversy.html

 

THAILAND BANS SURROGATE BABIES FROM LEAVING THE COUNTRY AFTER DOWN'S SYNDROME BABY GAMMY CONTROVERSY

 

Five couples with surrogate babies stopped at Bangkok Airport as surrogacy crackdown leaves hundreds of parents in limbo.

 

By , Sydney - 15 August 2014

Hundreds of foreign couples could be prevented from leaving Thailand with their surrogate babies, and at least five couples – three Australian and two American - have already been stopped at Bangkok’s International Airport.

The move came as Thai authorities launched a crackdown on paid surrogacy and declared they will stop suspected parents at the airport and require a birth certificate and surrogacy contract for their children.

Three same sex couples have reportedly been stopped at Bangkok’s Airport. One of the couples attempted to leave the country with the surrogate mother, but they were all banned from boarding flights.

''These distraught parents entered into arrangements in Thailand in good faith... They thought they were coming to Thailand for four weeks at a time and they now face six months, and possibly losing the house back home," Stephen Page, an Australian surrogacy lawyer, told Fairfax Media.  Related Articles

 

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs has have sought a “transition period” for couples with surrogate babies but it is not clear if Thai authorities will agree.

 

Rarinthip Sirorat, the Director-General of Thailand's Office for the Protection of Children, said Australians should be barred from taking their children home.

“The surrogate mother will be the biological mother and the legitimate mother of the child now,” she told ABC News

Thailand’s military rulers authorities have approved a draft law making paid surrogacy a criminal offence amid an international outcry over the case of Gammy, a boy born with Down’s syndrome who was abandoned by his Australian parents.

The case – and several others – was seized on by Thai authorities in recent weeks during efforts to curb paid surrogacy. The practice has long been tolerated and was not previously officially outlawed or sanctioned.

Thai police have confirmed that any foreign couples leaving the country with babies born via surrogates will need approval from the family court – a legal process that experts say can take months and will not necessarily succeed.

About 200 Australian couples are believed to be in limbo and hundreds more from across the world.

“We strongly urge Australians entering Thailand for the purposes of commercial surrogacy to seek independent legal advice in both Thailand and Australia before doing so,” a spokeswoman for Australia’s foreign affairs department said.

“In particular, they should seek advice on the implications of any new exit requirements.”

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