Children, the Bible says, are a blessing from the Lord. At least, that's the way it was intended to be.Whenever man starts to engineer human birth, there seem to be problems. The New York Times listed some of the problems, for instance, involving the use of surrogate mothers.
There was the case of Scott and Amy Kehoe, of Michigan, who were unable to have a baby of their own. They obtained donor eggs and donor sperm and hired an IVF clinic. Laschell Baker, also of Michigan, agreed to be the surrogate mother. In due time twins Ethan and Bridget were born and handed over to the Kehoes.
Six days after the birth, Mrs Baker discovered that Mrs Kehoe had had mental problems and was still having treatment. She decided she was not prepared to run the risk of Mrs Kehoe having a relapse and being unable to look after the twins. She had the Kehoes' guardianship rescinded and got a court order to retrieve the children. She and her husband plan to raise the twins with the four children of their own.
The Kehoes, who had to say goodbye to the children a month after they took them home, still have 20 frozen embryos at an IVF clinic from the eggs and sperm they bought.
Then there's the case of Donald Robinson, a Manhattan accountant. He and his male partner Sean Hollingsworth decided they wanted to be parents. They obtained eggs from an egg donor, Hollingsworth donated sperm and Robinson's sister, although she had had no children of her own, agreed to be surrogate mother.
During the pregnancy Ms Robinson began to have differences with her brother and began to bond with the twins she was carrying.
The male couple had custody of the twins for the first five months, then Ms Robinson asked a court for custody of the children. She was granted custody on a temporary basis for three days a week. The twins were being shuttled back and forth between her house and her brother's house until a further court hearing.
Finally, there was the case of 62-year-old Stephen Melinger, an unmarried male elementary school teacher from New Jersey who decided he wanted a child. He obtained donated eggs and donated sperm and hired a surrogate mother.
After twin girls were born he took custody, but then is said to have exhibited eccentric behaviour and the question arose of whether he was capable of looking after them. The girls, now four, are currently in his custody but have already spent two spells in foster care.
The main problem, said a bioethicist, is seeing children as a consumer product. Like commodities. Or like pets.
Could this sort of thing happen in the UK? I suppose it could. (Surrogacy is not allowed on a commercial basis in the UK, but surrogacy agreements are not enforceable in UK courts, so it is not possible to have a legally binding surrogacy agreement.)
The Bridge Clinic, a London IVF centre, was recently raffling a woman's eggs as part of a Mother's Day promotion. The winner of the raffle was to receive a free £13,000-worth of fertility treatment in the United States - where you can choose your egg donor from profiles listing education, race, age, hair colour, eye colour and upbringing.
How do you suppose a child would feel growing up to learn he had been won in a raffle?
