Surrogate Mother With Sick Baby Asks Abortion Doctors: 'Are You Still Human?'

A Thai surrogate mother tells media outlets that she asked doctors if they were "still humans" when they suggested aborting her seventh-month old fetus because he had Down syndrome and a congenital heart condition.

Pattaramon Chanbua, a 21-year-old from Thailand's Sri Racha region, agreed via a Bangkok surrogate company to carry a child for nine months and then sell it to an Australian couple for $16,000. Chanbau ended up becoming pregnant with twins, and although the twin girl was born healthy, the boy was born with Down syndrome and a heart condition.

The Australian couple only took the healthy child back to Australia with them, leaving Chanbua with the unexpected responsibility of caring for a sick child. Although news reports indicate that the legal status of such a rare situation is murky, Chanbua recently told the Associated Press that doctors at the surrogacy agency had suggested she abort her son, Gammy, when he was seven months old, and allow the healthy twin sister to continue living.

"I asked them, 'Are you still humans?' I really wanted to know," she said of her response to the doctors, adding that she found having an abortion to be sinful.

Chanbua is now caring for Gammy and tells media outlets that she feels no anger toward the Australian parents who chose to leave their sick child behind, saying only that she hopes they love their healthy daughter as much as she loves the twin boy.

The West Australian couple has maintained that they weren't aware of Gammy's birth, saying that the surrogate agency only told them they were having a daughter with their Thai surrogate.

Chanbua also says she hasn't received all of the money promised to her for having the children, but an online donation drive for Gammy has managed to raise $210,000 in just 12 days.

Australia's Immigration Minister Scott Morrison suggested his country may intervene in the case, but warned that the situation took place in a different country with different legal codes.

"We are taking a close look at what can be done here, but I wouldn't want to raise any false hopes or expectations,'' Morrison said, according to The Australian. "We are dealing with something that has happened in another country's jurisdiction.''