American couple suing ABC over Ukraine surrogate baby story have case dismissed

An American couple who sued the ABC over a story alleging they abandoned their disabled surrogate baby in Ukraine have had their case thrown out.

An American couple who sued the ABC over reports they claimed portrayed them as “heartlessly” abandoning their surrogate baby in Ukraine after she was born with disabilities have had their case thrown out of court.

The lawsuit was dismissed in the Federal Court on Tuesday after the couple, Matthew Etnyre and Irmgard Pagan, failed to raise $100,000 in security to keep it afloat.

They sued the national broadcaster over an August 2019 episode of Foreign Correspondent and online article, both reported by journalist Samantha Hawley, exploring Ukraine’s commercial surrogacy industry.

The story focused on a child named Bridget, carried by a Ukrainian surrogate with Mr Etnyre as the biological father, who was born at 25 weeks with a number of disabilities and lived at a children’s home southeast of Kiev.

“She’s been abandoned by the very people who paid for her to be born – her American parents,” the article reads.

The story featured a child named Bridget who was born prematurely to a Ukrainian surrogate. Picture: ABC TV

Mr Etnyre and Ms Pagan alleged they had been defamed by the reports as people who “heartlessly abandoned” the child and left her in Ukraine because they “did not like the child’s appearance”.

The ABC filed a defence of truth, saying it could prove the couple abandoned Bridget.

Last month the couple was ordered to stump up $100,000 in security for costs after the broadcaster argued they had little money and lived overseas with no assets in Australia.

Their case was “far from clear cut” and it was unlikely the couple would be able to pay any costs order, Justice Wendy Abraham said in the judgment.

“Ms Pagan had worked as a film producer but that work has evaporated since Covid-19, and Mr Etnyre is a stay at home father looking after their twins,” the judge wrote.

At a short hearing on Tuesday morning the Federal Court heard Mr Etnyre and Ms Pagan had not lodged the sum as ordered.

“My clients were unable to raise the money and are in a position where they can’t continue,” solicitor Stewart O’Connell said.

Mr O’Connell asked the couple not be saddled with the ABC’s costs and said they wanted to continue with the lawsuit but simply did not have the money.

The ABC opposed the request and Justice Abraham sided with the broadcaster.

There was “no reason” Mr Etnyre and Ms Pagan should be spared from paying the ABC’s costs, the judge said.

Originally published as American couple suing ABC over Ukraine surrogate baby story have case dismissed