Immigration officials at Bangkok's international airport have stopped two Australian couples with surrogate babies from leaving the country, according to an ABC news report. The ABC said the couples were trying to depart but were stopped by immigration officials on Thursday afternoon.


BANGKOK: Up to 150 Australian couples caught up in a crackdown on commercial surrogacy in Bangkok will be able to petition a Thai court for the parental rights of their babies born to Thai surrogate mothers.

Under new laws set to be passed by Thailand's military-dominated parliament the Australians will not face punishment for their involvement in commercial surrogacy, which in the future will be a criminal offence in the country with penalties up to 10 years' jail.

But the Australians, who include same-sex couples, face months of waiting while they petition the court before they will be able to take their babies home.

''This news will be welcomed by the Australian parents,'' said founder of Surrogacy Australia Sam Everingham. ''It provides some clarity for them.''

Many of the parents have been deeply distressed by the uncertainty of the crackdown. The laws approved in principle by Thailand's military rulers ban commercial surrogacy except involving family members.


Sappasit Kumprabban, a veteran child-rights activist who participated in drafting the laws, said they will have retrospective effect in terms of the status of a child born through surrogacy. However the punishment for commercial surrogacy will not be retroactive.

''Assuming the bill is implemented today, a surrogate child born before or after law enforcement will be automatically the legitimate child of the commissioning parents,'' he told the Bangkok Post.

Mr Sappasit said there is no problem if the fertilised embryo is produced from the commissioning parent's egg and sperm.

''But if it is produced by donated sperm and the egg of a commissioning mother, or by donated egg and sperm of a commissioning father, the bill provides a route for the commissioning mother and father to claim parental rights over the child,'' he said.

Mr Everingham appealed to Thai authorities to allow Australian couples to take their babies home for a temporary period before returning to Thailand to petition the court for parental rights.

Australian officials in Bangkok have been pressing Thai authorities to allow a moratorium for Australians who have existing arrangements with Thai surrogates amid a crackdown on commercial surrogacy after Fairfax Media revealed the plight of baby Gammy, which caused a furore in both Thailand and Australia.

Pavena Hongsakula, a leading Thai women's and children's rights activist, urged parliament to pass the laws urgently because ''our country is not ready to cope with commercial surrogacy''.

But she said the Australian couples with existing arrangements should have their backgrounds checked before they can take their babies.

''These couples are in a very difficult situation . . . they came to Thailand probably believing they were not breaking any laws,'' said Ms Pavena, a former social development minister.

''But the interests of the child is the most important thing. The biological parents should be subjected to extensive background checks and then only be given the babies on a case by case basis,'' she said.

Ms Pavena also told Fairfax Media baby Gammy should be reunited with his twin sister Pipah, who has been taken to Australia by their biological father David Farnell, a convicted child sex offender.

''I don't know where when or how but these babies should be together, to grow and look after each other,'' she said.

The Medical Council of Thailand has set up a committee to investigate the baby Gammy case and two doctors who were allegedly involved in the births.

Medical authorities are also investigating doctors behind ALL IVF Centre, the most popular surrogacy clinic for Australians, which has been forced to close after being linked to a ''baby factory'' case where 24-year-old Japanese businessman Mitsutoki Shigeta fathered at least 15 children to 11 Thai surrogate mothers.

Ms Pavena said she is alarmed by information that multi-births through Thai surrogate mothers became widespread in Thailand. She said she is gathering information about two more specific cases which are yet to become public.

Ms Pavena was among police, soldiers and welfare officers who raided a condominium last week and took nine of the babies aged six months to one year into state care which DNA tests showed had the same father, who is believed to be Mr Shigeta.

Details about Mr Shigeta's role in Thai surrogacy have become more bizarre with claims by the founder of a Thai fertility clinic that she warned Interpol and media outlets about him last year.

Mariam Kukunashvili from the New Life Global Network told Interpol in a message obtained by the 'Bangkok Post' that ''something is very wrong here''.

''He [Mr Shigeta] freezes sperm very frequently and says he is going to have 10 babies per year and wants to make sure he has sufficient frozen sperm as he is going to make babies even when he is old,'' Ms Kukunashvili wrote.

She said she did not receive a reply from Interpol.

Fairfax Media