Gammy’s parents claim they were forced to leave Down syndrome son

The biological father accused of abandoning a baby because he was born with Down syndrome has said he would have terminated the surrogate pregnancy had he known sooner about the boy’s condition. Speaking on Channel 9’s 60 Minutes programme, David Farnell said: “No parent wants a son with a disability. They sent us the reports but they didn’t do the checks early enough.” But he denies asking the surrogate mother at any time to have an abortion. David and Wendy Farnell also say that the Thai surrogate, 21-year-old Pattaramon Chanbua, refused to let the baby boy go.

She said if we tried to take our little boy she’s going to get the police and she’s going to come and take our little girl.

David Farnell, biological father of a baby born in Thailand to surrogate mother

A surrogate mother in Thailand gave birth to twins for David and Wendy Farnell. The girl, Pipah, was healthy and came back to western Australia with the couple, but the boy, named Gammy, was born with the disability and remains in the surrogate’s care. For more than a week Chanbua has repeatedly painted the Farnells as heartless. To complicate matters further, Farnell has 22 convictions for sexually abusing girls, one as young as 5 years old.

I come home from work some days and Wendy has dressed our little girl all in blue. She wants to still remember our little boy.

David Farnell

Gammy Asia-Pacific