Daily Lessons from Life 05 August 2014 - Australian in Thai surrogate case has child sex convictions: Report

"Australian in Thai surrogate case has child sex convictions: Report - AFP 05 August 2014

PERTH, Australia - An Australian father accused of abandoning his Down's syndrome baby has convictions for child sex offences, reports said Tuesday, as the surrogate mother said she was willing to take back the boy's twin sister if the allegations were true.

The revelations came as the man and his wife claimed the Thai woman who gave birth to Gammy had misled the world over what happened.

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, have come under heavy criticism for apparently rejecting the boy at birth and taking only his healthy twin sister back to their home in Bunbury, south of Perth, from Thailand.

The birth of the twins was supposed to take place at a major international hospital in Thailand but Pattharamon (the surrogate mother) went to another facility, which made the surrogacy agreement void, according to the newspaper.

This meant that the couple had no legal rights to the babies although the surrogate mother finally agreed to hand over the girl, the report said."

This surrogate mother thingy has been going on for a while now. In fact, the last documentary I came across seems to indicate that it is a very BIG business in some nations in the world! That something like thing will happen and had happened should not be a shock or even news to the rest of the world. Yet, it is a headline news!

Lessons for me are:

1. I cannot speak for some couples who desperately wanted to have kids but could not as we had ours naturally and they were healthy babies and are now young adults. We are grateful for that. So, I am not sure it is inappropriate for these couples to hire surrogate mothers as it 'seems to be a legal business and mutually beneficial transaction' between consenting adults!;

2. so the laws seem to be alright, at least in some countries, and it is the 'moral issue' that is questionable or controversial. Even if it is legal, what about the processes that make sure that those who truly want to have babies of their own are FIT to be parents and protectors of the young, innocent and vulnerable? In this case, if the allegation is true, given the criminal records and the nature of the crimes committed and convicted of the 'father', should he be evenly allowed to have babies?;

3. there is no easy answer and each will reach his or her own conclusion. For me, surrogate mother is unnatural mean to have children. Whoever has access to it must thoroughly understand the enormity of the responsibility they have and be thoroughly prepared to receive the baby come what may, and the even heavier responsibility of bringing the babies up to adulthood, again come what may!

May the baby be taken care of well and such controversy be kept to the minimal if it is impossible to eliminate it.