Here is a CBS Early Show segment aimed at “answering” the ethical and safety concerns about egg donation. Their panel of “specialists” consists of an out-of-work 23 yr. old actress who has decided to “donate” her eggs (but hasn’t done so, yet), Kathy Bernardo of the Northeast Assisted Fertility Group and Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel, an oncologist and the Head of … Read More
Catechism: Gestational Carriers “Gravely Immoral”
On my post this week about Nicole Kidman’s new baby via “gestational carrier” a reader reminded me that Kidman is Catholic. She and husband Keith Urban are married in the Church, their first daughter is baptized Catholic and according to this Catholic News Service article she once told the Philippine Daily Enquirer, “Catholicism guides me. I certainly have a strong … Read More
Made in India
It seems like I’ve been talking a lot about surrogacy lately. But I’m not the only one. This is becoming a major issue world-wide, especially since it’s been popularized by celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker, Elton John and now Nicole Kidman. Made in India is a documentary about the booming surrogacy industry in India where many couples (who don’t have … Read More
Nicole Kidman Thanks “Gestational Carrier”
Two weeks ago I did a post highlighting Melanie Thernstrom’s ode to surrogacy in which she repeatedly referred to the women who gave birth to her children as “gestational carriers.” That was a first for me and at the time I said: Sounds like something from a horror cloning movie. Well…maybe that kinda fits after all. Yesterday I noticed a … Read More
Eggsploitation, Surrogacy and the Business of Making Babies
Celebrities and wealthy columnists paint a smiling, rosy picture normalizing, even championing, egg “donation” and surrogacy, meanwhile the fertility industry has a dirty little secret: Eggsploitation is a documentary from the Center for Bioethics and Culture. Regarding surrogacy, the BioPolitical Times blogger Marcy Darnovsky, commenting on last week’s NYT “Twiblings” cover story by Melanie Thernstrom and relating it to a … Read More
Seeking a Girl, Couple Has Unborn Twin Boys Killed
Good grief! Last week ROSS DOUTHAT wrote a widely circulated column in the NY Times about the “unborn paradox.” How unborn life is so easily discarded on one hand and so desperately wanted on the other. Here we have a perfect example of this paradox in one couple. An Australian couple had the twin boys they were carrying killed because…well, … Read More
Woman Gives Birth to Her First Grandchild
If that heading doesn’t sound quite right to you, it shouldn’t, and yet, it happened. According to LifeSiteNews, a woman in Mexico gave birth to a child whose biological parents are her single gay son and his married childhood friend. Needless to say, the “(grand)mother” is a little confused: “I don’t feel like a mother nor like a grandmother,” the … Read More
Outsourcing Birth
This clip, from the documentary Google Baby, is as heart-wrenching to watch as it is horrifying. In India poor women are “recruited” to become surrogates for childless middle-class western couples. This kind of language should leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth: A key figure in the narrative is Dr. Nayna Patel, who started the Gujarat clinic that recruits surrogate … Read More