Second Australian 'abused' surrogate Thai twins

Second Australian 'abused' surrogate Thai twins

SYDNEY: An Australian has been charged with sexually abusing twins he fathered with a Thai surrogate, reports said Tuesday, the second recent case to ignite debate about commercial surrogacy.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said the Thai mother of the children, Siriwan Nitichad, had agreed to carry a child for the man and his wife who had not been able to conceive.

"She said her husband wanted to have a baby so much, please help them, please help them," the woman, who is also known as Aon, told the broadcaster.

Aon, who lives in Phetchabun province, said she agreed to use her own eggs, was paid about A$5,500 (163,927 baht) and gave birth to twins some years ago.

The report did not specify the children's ages.

The Australian couple took the children home, but court documents show that the father, who cannot be named, was last year charged with abusing them, the ABC said.

The man, who denies the allegations which include the possession of child pornography, is expected to fight the charges when they go to court later this year.

The children have remained with the man's ex-wife, but Aon said she was open to the idea of taking the twins back.

"If they don't have anyone to take care of them, we are happy to take care of them," she said.

The case follows that of Gammy who was born with Down's syndrome to a Thai surrogate for an Australian couple in December. The couple took the boy's healthy twin sister back to Australia but left Gammy in Thailand.

The couple denied deliberately abandoning their baby son and have said they will try to get him back.

Meanwhile, Suchada Mongkolchaipak, a gynaecologist at Phyathai Sriracha Hospital in Chon Buri, on Monday filed a police complaint over being wrongly cited online as a commercial surrogacy practitioner.

Dr Suchada said an acquaintance informed her that her name and contact information appeared on the foreign website www.familiesthrusurrogacy.com.

She said the posting hurt her reputation, saying she has worked at the Phyathai Sriracha Hospital in Chon Buri for over a decade and practices surrogacy following the Medical Council of Thailand's regulations, which prohibit its commercial form.

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