Your ‘right’ v their life: the surrogacy dilemma

Baby Gammy granted Australian citizenship - BBC NewsSurrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua, 21, with baby Gammy, the child she says Australian parents left with her. Source: AFP
FOR the cost of a new car, clucky Australian couples have been able to order babies from Asia, using rent-a-womb services that are illegal back home.

At the Surrogacy India clinic, a baby can be procured for $25,000. The genetic parents use IVF technology to create an embryo, which is implanted in the womb of a stranger paid to carry the baby until birth. Gay men use a donated egg.

The surrogate mum will have signed a document agreeing to an abortion “if the child has serious problems’’. She’ll live in a house provided by the clinic, under the supervision of a “caretaker’’. At 12 weeks’ gestation, the pregnant woman will be fed supplements of “iron, calcium, vitamins, minerals, protein biscuits and protein powder’’, according to information the clinic sent to Inquirer.

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