Bangkok: Up to 150 Australian couples facing uncertainty about the fate of their Thai surrogates and babies in Thailand have been told not to panic, as Thai authorities widen a crackdown on the country’s booming surrogacy industry.
“We are working hard to try to ensure the security of all those involved,” said founder of Surrogacy Australia Sam Everingham. “They shouldn’t panic,” he said.
The crackdown imposed by Thailand’s military rulers amid a furore in Australia and Thailand over the baby Gammy scandal has shattered the dreams of Australian couples having babies.
The industry has been thrown into chaos as authorities raid clinics, including the All IVF Centre, the most popular clinic for Australians coming to Thailand for commercial surrogacy, which was forced to close last Friday after being linked to a suspected “baby factory” human trafficking ring.
A skeleton staff from the clinic operating from an undisclosed location in Bangkok has begun answering emails from about 50 distressed Australian couples with existing arrangements with the clinic.
Many of them have expressed fears their Thai surrogates will abort their babies following the clinic’s closure and face being charged under human trafficking laws if they attempt to take babies out of Thailand without permission from the Thai government.
Three days after the clinic’s closure Thai authorities have not revealed what they have done with the frozen embryos that were stored there.
Australian embassy officials have urged Thai officials in meetings to allow a moratorium on existing contracts as legislation is being fast-tracked for Thailand’s parliament that will see those involved in commercial surrogacy facing up to 10 years jail.
But military rulers have so far given no public indication they will agree, as a human drama unfolds in the Thai capital involving an estimated 250 foreign couples.
Authorities in Bangkok have revealed they are targeting a clinic linked to the baby Gammy scandal they believe has provided services to more than 100 Australian couples.
Scores of doctors who have been involved in commercial surrogacy in violation of Medical Council of Thailand regulations, face losing their licences to practice, officials said.
“We believe more than 100 babies for Australian couples could be related to the clinic that has provided services to Gammy’s mother,” said Pattarapol Jeungsomjatepaisan, head of Thailand’s Health Support Service Department’s legal division.
A spokesman for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs said the Australian government was encouraging Thai authorities to adopt appropriate transitional arrangements for any new measures on commercial surrogacy, so concerned Australians are not unduly affected.
“The legal position of commercial surrogacy in Thailand remains unclear,” the spokesman said.
"We strongly urge Australians visiting Thailand for the purposes of commissioning surrogacy arrangements to seek private legal advice in both Thailand and Australia before doing so,” he said. “They should also be aware they may be breaching Australian law in some states and territories.”
Meanwhile, Pattharamon Janbua, the 21 year-old Thai surrogate mother of Gammy, has made a new appeal to David and Wendy Farnell, the couple from Bunbury in Western Australia who left the boy behind in Thailand and took his twin sister Pipah.
Speaking after the Farnells broke their silence on Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes on Sunday night, Ms Pattharamon told Fairfax Media: “I hope my daughter will be safe and they will love my baby and do what they have said they will do.”
She said she was deeply distressed when she saw the interview, denying everything the Farnells claimed had occurred during her pregnancy and while the twins were together in a Bangkok hospital.
