The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

LIFE DIGEST: Pressured surrogate aborts Down Syndrome baby

By Tom Strode - Oct 12, 2010 - 1 -

A surrogate mother in British Columbia aborted a baby under pressure from the biological parents after the child was diagnosed with Down Syndrome.

The National Post, a nationwide newspaper in Canada, reported Oct. 6 the surrogate initially wanted to give birth to the child conceived by in vitro fertilization (IVF). That decision would have freed the parents from any responsibility for their baby under the agreement the three had signed. The surrogate, who has two children, ultimately had an abortion, partly because of her family responsibilities.

Also in this edition: Boy born nearly 20 years after being frozen as embryo, Advice columnist: ‘Good mother’ would kill suffering child, and Abortion clinic director admits fake bomb threat

Bioethicists in both the United States and Canada decried the turn of events.

Wesley Smith, a bioethics specialist and blogger, called it “[s]ickening on all counts.”

“IVF has led to a sense of entitlement to only have a baby we want – as if a child is a mere consumer product,” Smith wrote Oct. 11 on his blog. He said, “Such contracts should be voided by public policy outlawing surrogacy for pay. I mean, if this isn’t human trafficking, what is it?”

Juliet Guichon, a Calgary University bioethicist, said contract law should not apply to surrogacy.

“Should the rules of commerce apply to the creation of children? No, because children get hurt,” said Guichon, according to the Post. “It’s kind of like stopping the production line: ‘Oh, oh, there’s a flaw.’ It makes sense in a production scenario, but in reproduction it’s a lot more problematic.”

Sally Rhoads of Surrogacy in Canada Online told the newspaper of a case in which the parents asked for the elimination of one of their children in the womb when it was learned the surrogate was carrying twins. The surrogate lost both children inadvertently.

Canadian surrogates are rearing babies in three cases in which the biological parents divorced and reneged on the agreements, Rhoads said.

Information about the Down Syndrome child was revealed in a presentation by Ken Seethram, the doctor in the case, to the Canadian Society of Fertility and Andrology.

Boy born nearly 20 years after being frozen as embryo

A healthy boy has been born nearly 20 years after he was frozen as a one-cell embryo.

The 42-year-old mother, who was not identified, gave birth to the child in May, according to an Oct. 10 NewsCore report based on an article in the journal Fertility and Sterility. She had been undergoing fertility treatments at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine in Norfolk, Va., for 10 years.

The 20-year lapse between creation of the embryo by in vitro fertilization (IVF) and his birth apparently is a record. The longest span previously reported was 13 years, according to the report.

The boy born in May was among five embryos created in 1990. After a child was born to the parents of the quintet created by means of IVF, the couple donated the remaining embryos for adoption. The boy born in May, therefore, has a sibling who is 20 years old.

NewsCore is a news service for News Corporation-owned media outlets, which include Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.

Advice columnist: ‘Good mother’ would kill suffering child

A British advice columnist told a television audience Oct. 3 abortion can be “the act of a loving mother” and killing a suffering child would be something a “good mother” would do.

On BBC One’s “Sunday Morning Live, Virginia Ironside said, “Abortion can often be seen as something wicked or irresponsible, but in fact it can be a moral and unselfish act. If a baby is going to be born severely disabled or totally unwanted, surely an abortion is the act of a loving mother.”

She also said, “And I think that if I were a mother of a suffering child, I would be the first to want — I mean a deeply suffering child — I would be the first one to put a pillow over its face. I would with any suffering thing, and I think the difference is that my feeling of horror [over] suffering is much greater than my feeling of getting rid of a couple of cells because suffering can go on for years.”

Host Susanna Reid expressed shock, telling Ironside her comment about smothering a child to death was a “pretty horrifying thing to say.”

Ironside defended her remark, saying, “Of course, I would, if it was a child I really loved who was in agony. I think any good mother would.”

A visibly stunned Joanna Jepson, a Church of England chaplain and a fellow panelist on the program, said, “That’s just not true.”

Ironside writes for The Independent.

Abortion clinic director admits fake bomb threat

A former abortion clinic director in Tulsa, Okla., pleaded guilty Oct. 7 in a case in which she called in a fake bomb threat to police.

Linda Meek, formerly executive director of Reproductive Services of Tulsa, acknowledged she gave false information in an Aug. 13 call to police, the Tulsa World reported. Her sentencing is set for January.

Meek told federal judge Clair Eagan she purchased an egg timer, set it so it would tick, placed it inside a box and put it in a trash can, according to the World. She reported a bomb to police.

The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. Our free, downloadable Impact resource is also available online. If your church is interested in purchasing materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com

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