Dreams of Children Shattered as Thailand Closes All IVF Center
By Lindsay Murdoch,
The Sydney Morning Herald
| 08. 09. 2014
About 50 Australian couples' dreams of having surrogate children have been shattered after Thai authorities linked their Bangkok clinic with a suspected international “baby factory” trafficking syndicate said to be behind at least 14 babies destined for overseas.
On Friday, the forced closure of the most popular IVF clinic for Australians in the Thai capital, All IVF Center, has raised fears Thai surrogate mothers will abort their babies after losing support from the centre.
An estimated 50 Australian couples have agreements with the clinic in central Bangkok but now cannot contact their Thai surrogates. The fate of the embryos of Australians stored at the clinic is unknown.
The closure of All IVF on Friday night has shocked surrogacy organisations in Australia already alarmed that a crackdown on Thailand’s booming surrogacy business has left an estimated 150 Australian couples uncertain about the future of their babies.
Thailand’s strict military rulers intensified the crackdown after the plight of Gammy, a six-month old baby with Down syndrome, whose Australian biological parents left him behind in Thailand but took his twin sister to Bunbury in...
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