Surrogacy Is A Mess

On Dec. 23, a pair of fraternal twins were born to a Thai surrogate named Pattaramon Chanbua. The boy was born with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect, according to the Associated Press. The girl was born healthy. Chanbua says the biological parents, Australian nationals, knew about the boy’s genetic abnormalities when the twins were in utero and wanted Chanbua, a 21-year-old food vendor, to abort. She refused. After the children were born, the Australians took their daughter home, reportedly without paying Chanbua the full fee they had promised. They also left Chanbua with their biological son. She named him Gammy. (The Australian couple is now denying that they abandoned Gammy, and, to make matters messier, the Australian press reports that the father was jailed for three years in the 1990s for molesting two children.)

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