BANGKOK: About 50 Australian couples' dreams of having surrogate children have been shattered after Thai authorities linked their Bangkok clinic with a suspected international ''baby factory'' trafficking syndicate said to be behind at least 14 babies destined for overseas.
On Friday, the forced closure of the most popular IVF clinic for Australians in the Thai capital, All IVF Center, has raised fears Thai surrogate mothers will abort their babies after losing support from the centre.
An estimated 50 Australian couples have agreements with the clinic in central Bangkok but now cannot contact their Thai surrogates. The fate of the embryos of Australians stored at the clinic is unknown.
The closure of All IVF on Friday night has shocked surrogacy organisations in Australia already alarmed that a crackdown on Thailand's booming surrogacy business has left an estimated 150 Australian couples uncertain about the future of their babies.
Thailand's strict military rulers intensified the crackdown after the plight of Gammy, a six-month old baby with Down syndrome, whose Australian biological parents left him behind in Thailand but took his twin sister to Bunbury in Western Australia.
Sam Everingham, founder of Surrogacy Australia, says the closure of All IVF is causing ''great concern among dozens of Australians anxious about the medical and psychological welfare of their pregnant surrogates''.
Mr Everingham has appealed to Thai authorities to ensure All IVFs surrogates are safe and that biological parents will be reunited with their babies at birth.
''Neither surrogates nor intended parents were committing a crime under Thai law when they engaged with the clinic,'' he said.
''The Thai government needs to respect this rather than adopting a heavy handed approach which callously disregards the well-meaning Thai surrogates, intending parents and infant children unwittingly caught up in this maelstrom.
''On humanitarian grounds, the Thai government must ensure that All IVF surrogates currently pregnant can continue to access appropriate obstetric care and birthing facilities and that clinic records are protected.''
Thailand's Department of Health Service Support has linked All IVF to the alleged biological father of six boys and three girls aged between six months and a year, who were found in a Bangkok condominium and have been taken into state care.
Authorities say 24-year-old Japanese businessman Mitsuoki Shigeta, who has visited Thailand 65 times since 2012, has taken at least three other babies out of Thailand, two of them to Cambodia.
Mr Shigeta, who flew out of Thailand early on Friday morning, is wanted for questioning over human trafficking.
A Thai lawyer representing Mr Shigeta has told police his client is the biological father of 14 babies, three of whom have been taken to Japan. The lawyer claims Mr Shigeta wants the babies so they can take over his business when they grow up.
Health Service Support chief Boonruang Trairuangworawat said All IVF was closed because its services could cause harm or even deaths.
''It's registered as a medical facility but not as one offering fertility treatments,'' he said.
Pisit Tantiwattanakul, the clinic's executive director, infertility specialist and chief embryologist, had work experience at Melbourne's Monash IVF Centre.
All IVF promoted him as the leading IVF doctor in Bangkok. He built close relationships with hundreds of Australian clients over several years and, according to the clinic, performed more than 700 IVF procedures each year.
''Charming and kind, Dr Pisit receives high marks for his patient demeanour and his direct approach to client care,'' the clinic said on its website, before any reference to him was deleted on Saturday.
Dr Pisit could not be reached for comment.
Surrogacy experts estimate that All IVF, which operated from premises with stunning views from a Bangkok high-rise building, has 70 percent of the surrogacy market from Australia.
On many days up to a dozen Australians wait to see Dr Pisit in the clinic's waiting room.
Australia has set up a multi-agency committee to pressure Thailand's military junta to allow Australians with existing surrogacy agreements in Thailand to be completed so that babies born by surrogate mothers can be taken to Australia.
The junta has given no public indication it will agree, raising fears of human drama ahead.
Thai medical officials have declared they will treat surrogacy as human trafficking cases until parliament passes legislation banning surrogacy, except involving family members.
Until the crackdown, Thailand's surrogacy business was largely unregulated and the country became the go-to Asian place for surrogacy and IVF gender selection procedures.
More than 40 clinics across Thailand have been raided as part of the crackdown.
David Farnell, who was jailed for child molestation, and his wife Wendy are to break their silence on Channel Nine's '60 Minutes' program on Sunday on why they left Gammy in Thailand.
But Pattharamon Janbua, the baby's Thai surrogate, has said she will reject a Channel Nine donation to an appeal to pay Gammy's medical costs and long-term care, saying she does not want the Farnells' money or sympathy.
Fairfax Media
On Friday, the forced closure of the most popular IVF clinic for Australians in the Thai capital, All IVF Center, has raised fears Thai surrogate mothers will abort their babies after losing support from the centre.
An estimated 50 Australian couples have agreements with the clinic in central Bangkok but now cannot contact their Thai surrogates. The fate of the embryos of Australians stored at the clinic is unknown.
The closure of All IVF on Friday night has shocked surrogacy organisations in Australia already alarmed that a crackdown on Thailand's booming surrogacy business has left an estimated 150 Australian couples uncertain about the future of their babies.
Thailand's strict military rulers intensified the crackdown after the plight of Gammy, a six-month old baby with Down syndrome, whose Australian biological parents left him behind in Thailand but took his twin sister to Bunbury in Western Australia.
Sam Everingham, founder of Surrogacy Australia, says the closure of All IVF is causing ''great concern among dozens of Australians anxious about the medical and psychological welfare of their pregnant surrogates''.
Mr Everingham has appealed to Thai authorities to ensure All IVFs surrogates are safe and that biological parents will be reunited with their babies at birth.
''Neither surrogates nor intended parents were committing a crime under Thai law when they engaged with the clinic,'' he said.
''The Thai government needs to respect this rather than adopting a heavy handed approach which callously disregards the well-meaning Thai surrogates, intending parents and infant children unwittingly caught up in this maelstrom.
''On humanitarian grounds, the Thai government must ensure that All IVF surrogates currently pregnant can continue to access appropriate obstetric care and birthing facilities and that clinic records are protected.''
Thailand's Department of Health Service Support has linked All IVF to the alleged biological father of six boys and three girls aged between six months and a year, who were found in a Bangkok condominium and have been taken into state care.
Authorities say 24-year-old Japanese businessman Mitsuoki Shigeta, who has visited Thailand 65 times since 2012, has taken at least three other babies out of Thailand, two of them to Cambodia.
Mr Shigeta, who flew out of Thailand early on Friday morning, is wanted for questioning over human trafficking.
A Thai lawyer representing Mr Shigeta has told police his client is the biological father of 14 babies, three of whom have been taken to Japan. The lawyer claims Mr Shigeta wants the babies so they can take over his business when they grow up.
Health Service Support chief Boonruang Trairuangworawat said All IVF was closed because its services could cause harm or even deaths.
''It's registered as a medical facility but not as one offering fertility treatments,'' he said.
Pisit Tantiwattanakul, the clinic's executive director, infertility specialist and chief embryologist, had work experience at Melbourne's Monash IVF Centre.
All IVF promoted him as the leading IVF doctor in Bangkok. He built close relationships with hundreds of Australian clients over several years and, according to the clinic, performed more than 700 IVF procedures each year.
''Charming and kind, Dr Pisit receives high marks for his patient demeanour and his direct approach to client care,'' the clinic said on its website, before any reference to him was deleted on Saturday.
Dr Pisit could not be reached for comment.
Surrogacy experts estimate that All IVF, which operated from premises with stunning views from a Bangkok high-rise building, has 70 percent of the surrogacy market from Australia.
On many days up to a dozen Australians wait to see Dr Pisit in the clinic's waiting room.
Australia has set up a multi-agency committee to pressure Thailand's military junta to allow Australians with existing surrogacy agreements in Thailand to be completed so that babies born by surrogate mothers can be taken to Australia.
The junta has given no public indication it will agree, raising fears of human drama ahead.
Thai medical officials have declared they will treat surrogacy as human trafficking cases until parliament passes legislation banning surrogacy, except involving family members.
Until the crackdown, Thailand's surrogacy business was largely unregulated and the country became the go-to Asian place for surrogacy and IVF gender selection procedures.
More than 40 clinics across Thailand have been raided as part of the crackdown.
David Farnell, who was jailed for child molestation, and his wife Wendy are to break their silence on Channel Nine's '60 Minutes' program on Sunday on why they left Gammy in Thailand.
But Pattharamon Janbua, the baby's Thai surrogate, has said she will reject a Channel Nine donation to an appeal to pay Gammy's medical costs and long-term care, saying she does not want the Farnells' money or sympathy.
Fairfax Media
If you can't produce a baby on your own, just adopt one (through the official channels). There are loads of baby's without parents. These intercontinental surrogate mother schemes are accidents waiting to happen.
Posted by FS on August 10, 2014 16:35