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 The controversy is the latest over surrogacy in Thailand after
several cases last year including accusations that an Australian
couple abandoned their Down Syndrome baby with his birth mother,
taking only his healthy twin sister back to Australia.
In the latest case, Gordon Allan Lake and his Spanish husband,
Manuel Valero, say Thai surrogate Patidta Kusolsang, who is not the
baby's biological mother, decided she wanted to keep their baby,
Carmen, as the couple was preparing to leave Thailand.
Patidta "had issues" with the couple's sexual orientation, said
Lake, and did not show up at the U.S. embassy in Bangkok in January
to sign Carmen's passport application and give them the papers
needed to leave Thailand.
"We have been here six months and our lives are being destroyed,"
Lake told Reuters.
 "Our families have missed out on the first six months of Carmen's
beautiful life."
Patidta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thailand has been a popular destination for foreign couples seeking
surrogacy services, partly because of loose regulations and low
costs compared with some other countries.
But following last year's surrogacy scandals, Thailand passed a law
in February that bans foreigners from seeking surrogacy services.
The law does not come into effect until July 30 and Lake and Valero
are not in violation of Thai law for commissioning surrogacy last
year.
The U.S. embassy in Bangkok said in a statement emailed to Reuters,
U.S. citizens in Thailand were subject to Thai law.
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"Pursuant to U.S. law, the Department cannot issue passports to
minor children without the consent of the legal parent/s or
guardians/s," said embassy spokeswoman Melissa Sweeney.
Under current Thai law, the birth mother is recognized as the mother
of the child and commissioning parents have no automatic legal
rights over a child, said Wanlop Tankananurak, a member of the
National Legislative Assembly who helped draft the surrogacy law.
Lake said the couple, who have a son, Alvaro, who was born through
surrogacy in India two years ago, chose Thailand because regulations
in India had changed.
"Thailand has great medical facilities, hospitals, embryologists and
surrogacy has been going on for years in Thailand," he said.
"Everyone had great expectations, there was no reason to think
anything could go wrong."
(Editing by Robert Birsel)
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