{{The Australian parents and the Thai surrogate mother of a baby who has Down’s syndrome have given conflicting accounts of how he was left behind.}}
Pattharamon Chanbua, 21, was paid by the couple to have their child. But they took home only one baby when she had twins, leaving behind Gammy.
The parents of baby Gammy have told local media that they only knew about his healthy twin sister.
But the surrogate said the father visited the twins in the hospital.
Ms Chanbua has claimed that she was asked by the couple to have an abortion once they knew about Gammy’s condition. But she refused as it was against her Buddhist beliefs.
She plans to keep Gammy and raise him as her own child. Besides Down’s syndrome, the baby has a congenital heart condition and a lung infection.
The case has made international headlines and caused an uproar particularly in Australia, where both Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Immigration Minister Scott Morrison have expressed regret over the situation.
The parents have since told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation they were only informed by doctors about Gammy’s healthy twin sister, whom they took home to Western Australia.
The unnamed couple also reportedly told Channel 9 that they had a daughter of Gammy’s age but she did not have a brother.
They said they had experienced trouble with the surrogacy agency, describing it as “traumatising”, and had been told it no longer existed.
But Ms Chanbua told Fairfax Media that the father, who is in his 50s, “came to the hospital to take care of the girl but never looked Gammy in the face or carried him”, even though the two babies stayed next to each other.
She also said she was now considering suing the parents.
BBC
Leave a Reply