A Survey For All You Young Libs, Dippers, Progressives

This survey is directed specifically to those of you who are young enough that you are still planning or might possibly want to have children. I really want to hear from you women.

Take a quick read on the post below about “reproductive outsourcing.” It’s about a growing, surrogate mother industry in India. The idea is that, for a fee of about $25-thousand, a fine, fit young woman in India will furnish a child, either by artificial insemination or by embryo implantation.

I think back to my days as a young professional and remember those of us who went through the whole childbearing process. Mom leaves work, gets fat, goes through the ordeals of childbirth, etc., etc. Been there, done that – twice and I still can’t understand what a woman has to be to get through it.

However, what if having kids was just a function of extracting the genetic material from each parent, tossing together an embryo and having it frozen and shipped to India to be baked by an accomodating woman for 25 Gs? 9-months later and you get back a genetically-correct offspring with no fuss, no muss, no career dislocation, no physical infirmity, nothing save for a small dent in the savings account.

Would you do it? Would you be tempted by the possibility? With the gap between rich and poor growing wider by the day and the desperate plight being inflicted upon the poorest, baby bakeries seem to be a sure thing.

What do you think?

If you’re past the point where this is even relevant your opinion still is. Simply identify yourself by the “past it” tag and weigh in.

Cheers all.

 

They Call It "Reproductive Outsourcing"

A fascinating item in the International Herald Tribune about a new and rapidly expanding industry in India – surrogate motherhood.

India, widely known for the destination of a variety of outsourced jobs is now fielding a corps of housewives available for artificial insemination – at bargain prices!

“Reproductive outsourcing is a new but rapidly expanding enterprise in India. Clinics that provide surrogate mothers for foreigners say they have been inundated with requests from the United States and Europe in recent months, as word spreads of India’s combination of skilled medical professionals, relatively liberal laws and low prices.

“Commercial surrogacy, which is banned in some European countries and subject to a wide spectrum of regulation in U.S. states, was legalized in India in 2002. The cost of the medical procedures, air tickets and hotels for two trips to India (one for the fertilization and a second to collect the baby) comes to around $25,000, roughly a third of the typical price in the United States.”

“Under guidelines issued by the Indian Medical Council, surrogate mothers sign away all their rights to the child. In cases where the surrogate provides a womb for an embryo formed from the sperm and egg of the prospective parents, it is only the names of these genetic parents that appear on the birth certificate. If an egg donor is involved, her name does not appear on the document, either; only that of the father.”

There are so many moral and ethical issues that leap out from this and they’ll never, ever come up for serious consideration. Yes, your own baby and for less than the price of a Volkswagen!