Tuesday, March 04, 2008

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.

8 comments:

Saskboy said...

An extra link to the other post below would be nice for those looking at this post's page only.

The Mound of Sound said...

Jeebus Saskboy, give a geezer a break. It's right there on the right, below the picture, the item entitled "They Call It 'Reproductive Outsourcing'." So, what's your take on this?

WesternGrit said...

Reminds me of a good old Canadian movie. I think it was called "The Handmaid's Tale"...

The Mound of Sound said...

Yeah, or the "Boys from Brazil". Here's a scenario. A couple go for a lovely holiday at an Indian resort, taking an afternoon to visit a medical clinic where 25-50 embryos will be created. They then place their order for those three kids they always wanted - a boy next year, followed by a girl a year later and then another boy the year after that. The Indians already have the practice of aborting unacceptable foetuses so this is entirely doable.

By the time it's all done, nanny is raising the kids and mom has made partner at her firm.

Is this acceptable to us as Canadians?

Saskboy said...

It's a dangerous way to live a life, and exploits poor people, so it's not really a great road to turn down as a society, but I don't see a way we can realistically stop it. We'll have to move to a nation where we don't interfere with a couple in their test tubes, as well as the bedroom. What I don't understand is how these people get the kid from India to Canada, and THAT is where we could stop these odd adoptions from taking place. If it's hard to get a vegetable through customs, imagine an unexplained kid?

The Mound of Sound said...

Thanks for your take, Saskboy. I don't think we can prevent a Canadian couple from bringing their biologically-correct child into Canada. It's not really an adoption. India issues the infant with a birth certificate in the names of the biological parents. So you land at Vancouver airport with a kid who's very much yours, simply born abroad. Imagine if the authorities were to do a DNA test, they'd find a perfect match.

Saskboy said...

Except now we're counting parents completely on genetics, and not based on who pushed the child out of their body in labour. In my view, there are two "fathers" and one Indian mother robbed/relieved of her parental rights.

The Mound of Sound said...

You're right. Team Zygote versus birth mother.

What's to prevent a prime couple from flogging embryos baked into infants in India? I'm a top PHD and she's Miss America. You want a kid? Here, we've got all the embryos you can afford, now pony up.