Thailand surrogacy: Kyla Booth says she’s lucky to have her daughters

SISTERS Sabai and Isara will always have a special connection to Thailand. It is where they drew their first breaths and where their “tummy mummies” live.

Thailand Surrogacy Kyla Booth with her children Sabai Brook, 2yrs, and Isara Lake, 4 months at their West Lakes home.. Picture Dylan Coker

SISTERS Sabai and Isara will always have a special connection to Thailand. It is where they drew their first breaths and where their “tummy mummies” live.

Their mother, Kyla Booth, turned to an overseas surrogacy clinic after six failed IVF attempts, two miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy during an eight-year battle to carry a child.

Her youngest daughter Isara was born in Bangkok on October 4 last year.

And Ms Booth considers herself lucky, given that Thailand’s military-dominated parliament passed a law banning commercial surrogacy for foreign couples on February 20.

“We’re incredibly lucky,” the West Lakes mother, 42, said.

But she said Thailand’s commercial surrogacy ban was “disheartening”.

“It’s disappointing for other couples who have fertility issues and that door is now closed for them,” she said.

“It also saddens me for the Thai people because they ran very good clinics, the doctors were amazing and the surrogates were phenomenal.

“It also puts a dampener on their economy.”

Little Sabai and Isara were named after Thai words “happy” and “freedom” respectively.

Ms Booth said she would encourage them to learn the Thai language when they grow older and want them to know how they came into this world.

When the family were in Bangkok for Isara’s birth, Ms Booth, her husband Matthew, and Sabai caught up with Sabai’s surrogate.

“She just ran into her arms, it was like there was a sixth sense — it was amazing,” she said.

“Her surrogate is a very warm woman who sends over videos for her birthday.”

She has already spoken to Sabai about her “tummy mummy” and she lights up every time she sees a photograph of her surrogate.

“They’re our little miracle,” she said.

Kyla Booth with her children Sabai, 2, and Isara, four months. Picture: Dylan Coker

Ms Booth and her husband had a rough road to parenthood and feel blessed to have two baby girls in their family.

Doctors told her she had severe adenomyosis after two years of testing at age 32.

“I was just going to have miscarriage after miscarriage so that was the end of our journey in Australia with IVF,” she said.

She said her and her husband didn’t look at any other options until her mum, Leanna, mentioned surrogacy.

Her mother, sister, sister-in-law and two friends were ruled out as surrogates for different reasons and that’s when the family looked overseas.

But all her scepticism about overseas surrogacy disappeared when she saw Sabai for this first time.

“About 10 minutes after the birth, they brought her out in a little crib and it was just amazing,” she said.

“There were just tears of joy. You’re looking at this little person and then you start to recognise that she has some of your features.

“It was a dream come true.”

The Royal Thai Armed Forces ordered a crackdown on commercial surrogacy on July 22, 2014, after overthrowing the government and establishing a junta last May.

Commercial surrogacy was thrown into the spotlight after media reports about the plight of baby Gammy surfaced about 10 days after the crackdown.

Foreigners who had signed their surrogacy agreement before the crackdown could continue with the pregnancy without any ramifications.

Those who signed after that date were left in limbo, not knowing what would happen to their baby or whether they could leave the country.

The options

■ Surrogacy is legal in Australia, as long as no money changes hands.

■ India and some US states still allow commercial surrogacy.

■ Commercial surrogacy is legal in Ukraine, if the couple is married and not same-sex.

■ Adoption laws vary in Australia and the South Australian law is under review.

■ An overhaul of the Federal adoption system has started, including overseas adoption.