Thailand stops four couples with surrogate babies

Four couples from the US and Australia have been prevented from leaving Thailand with surrogate babies as part of a government crackdown on the burgeoning commercial surrogacy industry.

The crackdown follows recent publicity over a Thai surrogate mother who said she was left with a baby rejected by his Australian biological parents after he was born with Down syndrome. The biological parents, who took the boy’s healthy twin sister home, dispute the circumstances in which they abandoned their son.

Two Australian same-sex couples were prevented by Thai officials from leaving Bangkok’s airport on Thursday afternoon with babies born to Thai women, Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) reported. One couple had attempted to travel with the Thai surrogate mother in the hope of avoiding a challenge at the immigration desk.