The Family Court of Western Australia has ruled that the baby with Down syndrome at the centre of an international surrogacy dispute in 2014 (“Baby Gammy”) was not abandoned in Thailand by his Australian parents. Twins were born in Thailand in December 2013 to a Thai surrogate mother, using the Australian man’s sperm and donor eggs, after the Australian parents were unable to conceive a baby. The parents returned to Australia with one of the twins in February 2014 and the Thai surrogate mother then sought orders from Western Australia’s Family Court to have her returned to her.
ABC News Online reports that, in a judgment released yesterday, Chief Judge Stephen Thackray decided she should continue to live with the Australian parents.
It had previously been claimed that the Australian Family had abandoned the baby with Down syndrome in Thailand. However Chief Judge Thackray found the family did not abandon the baby, and had wanted to keep him. He said in his judgment that during the pregnancy it was clear that The Thai surrogate mother had fallen in love with the twins she was carrying and decided she was going to keep the boy.