Abbott won't act on commercial surrogacy
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has rejected suggestions the government should allow commercial surrogacy in Australia in the wake of the controversy surrounding baby Gammy.
A global debate has been sparked by the alleged abandoning of the Down syndrome baby by an Australian couple, who paid a Thai woman $15,000 to be the surrogate mother.
The couple, from Bunbury in Western Australia, returned to Australia with his healthy twin sister but left Gammy in the care of his 21-year-old surrogate mother.
The boom in Australians seeking commercial surrogacy overseas has prompted calls for it to be legalised in this country, where lawyers and surrogacy experts say it can be better regulated.
But Mr Abbott downplayed any suggestion the government should allow commercial surrogacy in Australia.
"I'm not one who generally thinks that the law should intrude into the bedroom," Mr Abbott said on Wednesday.
"This is a matter that is governed by the states. I don't want to make it even more complicated than it already is."
Thai medical authorities are now threatening legal action against Gammy's surrogate mother, saying she is in contravention of Thailand's human trafficking laws.
Pattaramon Chanbua, 21, the surrogate mother to a baby boy born with Down syndrome who was abandoned by his Australian biological parents, waits for an elevator at a hospital in Sri Racha, Thailand. Photo: AP.
The Thai Ministry of Public Health has also flagged a crackdown on medical facilities and agencies linked to commercial surrogacy, which it calls "illegal".
Mr Abbott said he understood the desire to be parents sometimes led to "desperate actions". But he pleaded with Australian couples not to break the law.
"If surrogacy is illegal in Thailand it shouldn't be done," he said. "If going overseas to engage in this sort of thing is illegal, it shouldn't be done."
Asked about revelations that Gammy's father has previously been jailed for child sex offences, Mr Abbott said any action was a matter for state police.
"Certainly I would expect the state police and the state law enforcement authorities to be doing whatever's appropriate under these circumstances," Mr Abbott said.
Morning news break – August 6
