Surrogate babies stopped at airport

UP TO 200 Australian couples affected by Thailand barring surrogate babies from leaving the country without a court order in the wake of the baby Gammy case are now ‘‘pawns in a disastrous game’’, a leading surrogacy lawyer says.

ABC reported that two Australian homosexual couples and two American couples were stopped by police at Bangkok airport on Thursday afternoon amid plans by the country to overhaul its surrogacy laws.

On Wednesday, Thailand’s military government gave preliminary approval for a draft law making commercial surrogacy a criminal offence, largely due to an international outcry over the case of an Australian couple accused of abandoning their baby with Down’s syndrome, known as Gammy, to his surrogate mother.

The West Australian couple took Gammy’s healthy twin sister home.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has urged Thai authorities to allow a transitional period for the new laws so that Australians already into the surrogacy process are not unduly affected.

‘‘ 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 department spokeswoman said following reports of couples being stopped.

‘‘In particular, they should seek advice on the implications of any

What’s really concerning is the Thai government has changed the rules halfway through the game and virtually overnight. Stephen Page

new exit requirements.’’

The department would not be releasing names of Australian couples stopped at the airport, she said.

In a

statement

posted

on

their closed Facebook group wall, Surrogacy Australia said it would not be commenting on the situation to the media, but more than 200 couples might be affected, SBS reported.

The couples would now have to face the Thai family court, which traditionally rules in such cases that children should stay with their birth mother, leading Australian surrogacy lawyer Stephen Page said.

The Gammy case had revealed to Thai authorities how fraught surrogacy arrangements without strong judicial oversight from the outset were, and had embarrassed them internationally, he said, prompting their swift reaction.

‘‘But that couples are now being stopped at the airport is extraord- inary,’’ he said. ‘‘What’s really concerning is the Thai government has changed the rules halfway through the game and virtually overnight; these couples who had gone into this process in good faith now find themselves pawns in a disastrous game.’’

To avoid a repeat of the Gammy case, he said Australian legislation that criminalised commercial surrogacy in all jurisdictions but the Northern Territory, and which was often discriminatory, needed to be overhauled.

Australian couples chose Bangkok in large numbers because it was close, was perceived as cheaper, and until recently had not sought to ban commercial surrogacy, he said.

‘‘The first thing

we

need

is

a strong framework of international law so everyone knows what’s up and we don’t have this vague situation like in Thailand or India where the rules suddenly get changed,’’ Page said.

‘‘Certainly the leading players in the commercial surrogacy field include the US, who act from a human rights and feminist perspective with their laws.

‘‘Above all, their surrogacy laws have a strong judicial oversight, and I can’t emphasise the importance of that enough.’’

Changes to Australian commercial surrogacy laws could be driven by a Hague convention specifically relating to surrogacy, he said.

The Hague convention ‘‘protects children and their families against the risks of illegal, irregular, premature or ill- prepared tions’’ overseas.

It’s a suggestion echoed by the attorney general, George Brandis, who on Thursday released a report on parentage and the family law act calling for a co-ordinated international response to overseas surrogacy arrangements.

‘‘ Council believes this issue requires a co- ordinated international regulatory response of the kind embodied in the Hague Adoption Convention,’’ the report said.

Page said the Gammy case almost guaranteed that the next special commission of the Hague Conference’s Convention on Intercountry Adoption would adopt a convention on surrogacy.

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