Surrogacy Is A Mess

Pattaramon Chanbua, 21, top, poses with her children Game, 7, left, and baby boy Gammy at a hospital in Chonburi province, southeastern Thailand Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014. The Australian government is consulting Thai authorities after news emerged that Gammy, a baby with Downs Syndrome was abandoned with Chanbua, his surrogate mother, in Thailand by his Australian parents, according to local media. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

On Dec. 23, a pair of fraternal twins were born to a Thai surrogate named Pattaramon Chanbua. The boy was born with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect, according to the Associated Press. The girl was born healthy. Chanbua says the biological parents, Australian nationals, knew about the boy’s genetic abnormalities when the twins were in utero and wanted Chanbua, a 21-year-old food vendor, to abort. She refused. After the children were born, the Australians took their daughter home, reportedly without paying Chanbua the full fee they had promised. They also left Chanbua with their biological son. She named him Gammy. (The Australian couple is now denying that they abandoned Gammy, and, to make matters messier, the Australian press reports that the father was jailed for three years in the 1990s for molesting two children.)

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.