The federal government is examining the Thai surrogacy trade amid news that a baby boy was abandoned by his Australian parents after they discovered he has Down Syndrome.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, based on media reports, "it's an incredibly sad story".
"I guess it illustrates some of the pitfalls involved in this particular (surrogacy) business," he told reporters on Saturday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is concerned by the report, which a spokeswoman said raises the broader issues of surrogacy in Thailand.
"Australian government agencies are examining these issues in consultation with authorities in Thailand."
A seven-month-old boy named Gammy has been left in the care of Pattaramon Chanbua, a Thai woman who agreed through an agent to be a surrogate for the Australian couple for a fee of $16,000, the ABC reports.
She gave birth to twins - a girl and a boy - in December. But the parents took only the healthy girl back to Australia.
"The money that was offered was a lot for me. In my mind, with that money, one, we can educate my children, two, we can repay our debt," said Pattaramon, already a mother to two children, in an ABC interview.
But instead the 21-year-old was left to care for the boy who also suffers from a life-threatening heart condition requiring expensive treatment she cannot afford.
"I don't know what to do. I chose to have him ... I love him, he was in my tummy for nine months," she said.
Pattaramon has never met Gammy's Australian parents, according to Thai newspaper Thairath.
Their identities remain unknown.
Reports of Gammy's abandonment have triggered hundreds of people to donate to a fundraising page.
After a week the "Hope for Gammy" page had by Friday raised more than $US98,000 ($A106,000).
It also carried scores of comments, many of which expressed outrage at the boy's abandonment.
Mr Abbott said he is yet to be briefed on the matter but added he would look at "what might be possible" to help the boy.
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