‘Abandoned’ Twin Gammy Left With Surrogate In Thailand May Receive Help From Australia

Australia is considering giving an ill baby who was left with a surrogate in Thailand citizenship after the baby’s healthy twin was taken by its parents and denials of abandonment have surfaced.

According to The Associated Press, the 7-month-old surrogate baby, named Gammy, is being taken care of by the surrogate, 21-year-old Pattaramon Chanbua. Chanbua is a food vendor caring for the baby, who has a congenital heart condition and Down syndrome. The baby’s biological parents took Gammy’s healthy twin sister back with them to Australia after leaving Gammy with the surrogate.

Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said, “We are taking a close look at what can be done here, but I wouldn’t want to raise any false hopes or expectations. We are dealing with something that has happened in another country’s jurisdiction.”

Morrison’s office released a statement saying that “the child may be eligible for Australian citizenship” but did not provide further details.

This could potentially be helpful to little Gammy, because Australian citizens receive free health care in Australia.

Morrison has called Chanbua “an absolute hero” and “a saint” for taking care of Gammy when his parents left the country with his twin sister.

Gammy’s unidentified biological father claims that Gammy was not rejected or abandoned by his parents, but that a Thai doctor had only told them about their healthy daughter, according to Bankok Post.

The father also reported that the surrogacy agency had presented many problems during the course of business and no longer exists.

Chanbua believes differently. She claims that Gammy’s parents knew about him all along and said that they were too old to care for both babies. She also claimed that Gammy’s father ignored him.

“He did not buy milk for Gammy. He only bought milk for the girl,” Chanbua said. “The twins stayed next to each other but the father never looked at Gammy… not one bottle of milk did he give Gammy.”

Chanbua also claims that the surrogacy agency knew about Gammy’s condition early into the pregnancy but did not tell her until the seventh month of her pregnancy. Doctors and the agency suggested that she abort only Gammy.

The surrogate strongly opposed the idea of having an abortion and said, “I asked them, ‘Are you still humans?’ I really wanted to know.”

Mora Kelly, founder of the Children First Foundation, a group which brings ill children from various developing countries to Australia for medical treatment, said, “I believe that this child should be able to access our health care system here in Australia. This child, in essence… should be an Australian citizen.”

Hands Across the Water founder and chairman Peter Baines believe that Gammy does not need to be treated in Australia.

“Certainly our position is that there is no need to bring Gammy out to Australia,” Baines said. “There’s a high level of medical care available in Thailand and there’s nothing to my knowledge that indicates he’s suffering from something that can’t be treated in Thailand.”

Gammy is currently in a private hospital and surgery to repair his heart has not been scheduled.

The abandoned twin baby left with his surrogate has found help in the form of online donations; over $215,000 has been raised since July 22.

[Image via Reuters]