Will Facebook Oculus Rift Bring the Fiction of ‘Surrogates’ to Reality?
Software designer Julian Kantor (L), who created "The Recital" takes a picture of Jonathan Feng (R) as he uses the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset to experience his program during E3 in Los Angeles, California June 12, 2013. REUTERS/Gus Ruelas Reuters

An Australian couple abandoned their new born baby boy (Gammy) with his surrogate Thai mother when they discovered that the child has Down Syndrome. However, they took home his twin sister, who was born healthy.

The International community has come down heavily on the Australian couple who left their newborn boy, according to Fairfax media reports. Twenty-one-year-old Pattharamon Janbua from Thailand was offered $11,700 by a Bangkok surrogacy agent to become a surrogate mother for an unnamed Australian couple who were unable to have a baby. On discovering that she was carrying twins, the agency promised to pay her another $1,637.

The couple asked Janbua to have an abortion in the seventh month of her pregnancy after they got to know that the boy baby has Down Syndrome. However, Janbua refused and went ahead to deliver a baby boy and a girl. The young mother from Thailand, who never met the couple is struggling to raise money for Gammy, who is seriously ill and suffering from a rare congenital heart condition.

Wishes and donations have been pouring in ever since this news made headlines. An online campaign (Hope for Gammy) that was launched to raise funds for Gammy has collected more than $25,000, with more money flowing in every hour. The fundraisers have now increased the target to $100,000. To ensure that the fund is used for Gammy and his family, the organisers said, "Friends of Gammy are establishing a trust fund with two well known and reputable Thai charities who will administer this money and ensure that it is used only for the well being of Gammy and his family."

Australians, who came to know about Gammy, have condemned the couples' actions and have rushed to donate.
Meanwhile, the Thai health officials have decided to come up with more stringent rules to surrogacy because of the case. They declared that surrogacy can be legal only if a "married couple is unable to conceive and uses a blood relative to bear their child." It further declared that foreign couples can opt for surrogate mothers from the country only if they are able to get special permission from Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Couples taking the children to another country without seeking permission will be considered as violating human trafficking laws, concluded the health officials.

Click here to visit Hope for Gammy page and donate.

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