I had to get up early this morning (before 4 early) and drive to San Antonio to fire weapons. I'm old and this stuff doesn't sit well with anymore. I'm tired and cranky. Go read Euripides, or And Sometimes Tea, or Beetle or anybody else on the right side of the blog. Or try a new one on the state of "a new phase of a very old war, " at Gates of Vienna.
I'll be back tomorrow or Monday after a good nights sleep...
But before I head to bed...
Are we inconsistant in our opposition to embryonic stem cell research and abortion while we remain largely silent on IVF?
Define embryos as human
from USAToday.
Now is the time for pro-lifers to introduce legislation in their states regulating IVF and, with it, the creation and care of embryos. A bill introduced in the Georgia Senate this month had perfect model language. It would have limited the number of embryos implanted to the same number fertilized, up to a maximum of three. That would stop the practice of freezing human embryos and would curtail "selective reductions," the abortion of some.
Though that language did not survive, it remains a model for other states. The bill still importantly defines embryos outside the uterus as human beings, so court disputes must be decided in the best interest of the embryo, not either parent fighting over the embryo.
A movement in this direction is gathering force. Louisiana has had a law since 1986 defining ex-utero embryos as human beings with inherent rights. Embryos cannot be destroyed for research. Court disputes over abandoned embryos must be decided in the best interest of the embryo. At least five other states are considering legislation defining an embryo as a person. (more)
2 comments:
The following stories might interest you, re the topic of embryos, because the manufacture of human beings is directly related to the common (and often compulsory) practices involved with standard IVF / ARTs:
National Geographic:
Scientists led by Tomohiro Kono, a biologist at the Tokyo University of Agriculture, have created baby mice without the introduction of sperm. They combined the genetic contents of two mouse eggs—one of which had been genetically altered—to produce a live mouse that reached adulthood and reproduced.
Creating Children Without Men or Sperm:
It’s a theme as old as lesbian science fiction: A World without Men. The story is a familiar one, lesbians living together in an all-women utopia, loving, raising families and their own food. No men are needed, even in the creation of children. While once relegated to the world of fiction, the possibility of an all-female society may soon become a reality.
Survey: Stem Cell Babies
Below are the results from an internet poll in which 75% of respondents said that they preferred (57%), or maybe preferred (18%), the use of stem cells to create children for gay couples, over adoption.
"Same-sex Conception"
The liberty to procreate is not one and the same as the licence to manufacture human beings.
One is entailed in the principles of responsible procration; and combined with sex integration it is the nature of marriage.
Where there is confusion, and admittedly it tragically permeates society today, is where children are manufactured to be born. Even where human embryos are manufactured for non-birth ends, society seem to be increasling losing touch with the nature of human generativity. At least, the "fertility industry" is pushing society over that way; and the certain segments of the legal profession seems ready to protect that point of view.
SSMers are along for that ride.
This is not procreation but the manufacture of human beings.
The developing embryos are stored in cultures fabricated with cells extracted from rats or monkeys or cows and so forth. The embryos are warmed in machines. At each step there is wastage; and the partly processed material, including embryos, is discarded by the technicians doing their jobs. Whether destroyed or used, the human embryo becomes an artifact of the lab's artificial processes.
And then there is cryopreservation of unused embryos. This is deemed essential by The American Society for Reproductive Medicine.
Thanks for those links Chairm!
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