Fertility and Playing God

It used to be said that some doctors “played God”.  It was a pejorative aimed at doctors who took life and death matters into their own hands.

The term seems to have fallen out of fashion, but I suppose it isn’t just because of our increasing distance from religion.  No, I suspect it is because now “playing God” is in the hands of true amateurs.  Abortion on demand, euthanasia for those whose “quality of life” meets some perceived level, and IVF pregnancies for lesbians and others that nature didn’t intend upon bestowing the ability to create life.

It gets worse.

The Telegraph reported “IVF orphans who will always ask their mother: how could you?” with a byline of “IVF may give ageing mothers everything they want – but what about the children, asks Genevieve Fox”.

Children have become an object to be purchased, in our materialistic mad world.  Sure, we cannot purchase one off the street, but anyone, and I mean anyone, can have a surrogate or themselves implanted artificially and give birth.  Witness the “Octo-Mom”.

It still gets worse.

Maria Bousada wanted children so bad that she lied to her doctors and ignored her family’s disapproval.  She had never been married.  She had a busy life, I suppose, and now she had regrets.  She had a fixed income.  Yet, why shouldn’t a 65 year old woman feel fulfilled?

Fox wrote:

We have created a conveyor belt of lifestyle choices that defy the laws of nature. The conveyor belt never stops, and the offerings change, depending on the latest scientific and technological breakthroughs. All you have to do is see what you fancy, grab what you want and pay for it. No questions asked. Post-menopausal motherhood, twins or triplets, a fresh face, a better nose, a bespoke death, different coloured skin, a genetically perfect child, an able-bodied child. You want it, you can have it.

"I picked them from photos in a catalogue," said Bousada of the 18-year-old girl and Italian-American sperm donor whose egg and sperm were used for the embryo that was implanted in her womb. "It was a bit like studying an estate agent’s brochure and choosing a house."

And, so, she gave birth to twins.  Within a year, she was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Should we be surprised in a culture that treats children like just another commodity?

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