Disability, discrimination, surrogacy: Baby Gammy

Friday, August 15th, 2014

There has been extensive recent discussion of the circumstances of baby Gammy, suffering from Down’s syndrome and heart problems, and apparently left behind with the birth mother in Thailand by the Australian commissioning couple, though they took his well sister home.

Australians have responded generously with support for this photogenic little boy so that he can receive appropriate medical treatment.

The Thai government has responded by proposing restrictions on this form of trafficking in human persons and there has been much criticism of the commissioning couple, culminating in the discovery of an apparent history of child abuse by the commissioning male partner.

The public and media reaction to these circumstances has been interesting.

The shared premise would seem to be a negative reaction to a couple abandoning their biological child because he has a disability.

There is also the plight of the birth mother who has not apparently received what was due to her under the commercial arrangement.

Disquiet has also been expressed about the fact that the arrangement was commercial and exploitative of the poverty of the Thai birth mother.

A matter that seems to be relatively hidden in this discussion is that it would have been normal Western medical practice (around 90% of cases) to have aborted Gammy when it was discovered that he had Down’s syndrome, but his birth mother reportedly refused on religious and conscientious grounds.

The fact is that whatever a commissioning couple might want, a birth mother has the final say on such matters under the criminal law in most jurisdictions, though of course she may be placed under contractual and financial pressure to do as the agency or the commissioning couple want.

That decision about eugenic abortion generally favoured by the medical profession, and warranting expensive early detection by screening and invasive testing to detect abnormality, raises curious anomalies about attitudes to disability.

Disability discovered before birth is seen differently from disability after birth. Continue reading

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