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Fri 21 Jul, 2006 07:35 am
Mother Jones Radio reports that fertility clinics are facing a dilemma now that destroying embryos is considered murder by the Bush Administration. Many couples have abandoned their embryos, no longer paying the storage fees or responding to the clinic's requests as to their intentions. So the clinics are left with the quandary as to what to with these abandoned potential children.
So the question is should these potential parents be prosecuted for child abandonment or even murder, if indeed these embryos die due to their neglect?
Interesting question Roxxxanne. Except for on small matter of importance, and that being the the government's position is not as you state. The government does not consider destroying an embryo to be murder. Bush and many others may believe that destroying an embryo is akin to killing a life, but nobody in government that I am aware of has stated that the government now considers it murder and prosecutable.
Of course, your question is still an interesting one. Should a person be prosecuted for murder for destroying an embryo? I'll be interested in knowing what some of our members think on this one.
Yeah, this is easy. Read Bush's quote, not just Tony Snow's. But regardless of what the president "thinks", the government position is not now nor has it ever been that destroying an embryo is murder. That being the case, stating as you did that the government now considers destroying an embryo to be murder is either a lie on your part in order to provoke people or simply a matter of your written word not conveying your thoughts properly. I'll believe the latter, although coming from you I don't know why I choose that. Maybe it has something to do with how interesting and thought provoking I found your question.
Re: Should Couples Who Abandon Embryos Be Prosecuted?
Roxxxanne wrote:Mother Jones Radio reports that fertility clinics are facing a dilemma now that destroying embryos is considered murder by the Bush Administration. Many couples have abandoned their embryos, no longer paying the storage fees or responding to the clinic's requests as to their intentions. So the clinics are left with the quandary as to what to with these abandoned potential children.
So the question is should these potential parents be prosecuted for child abandonment or even murder, if indeed these embryos die due to their neglect?
How much of a moron does one have to be to take this post literally? Does anyone with the IQ of a flea really think the author of the post is literally proposing murder prosecution for the potential parents?
I didn't take it literally, considering the source it would have been a bit silly for me to take it literally. Just responding to your posting with a bit of serious banter for those who may take the Mother Jones radio report seriously.
But it sure seems as though you were throwing out a question for discussion at the end of your first post based. But if I am wrong and you did not intend for any discussion but rather were attempting to make some kind of point by posting the Mother Jones thing, then I need not comment further.
This also presents the dilemma of whether something stored in a freezer (at cryogenic temperatures, no less) is "alive."
Re: Should Couples Who Abandon Embryos Be Prosecuted?
Roxxxanne wrote:Roxxxanne wrote:Mother Jones Radio reports that fertility clinics are facing a dilemma now that destroying embryos is considered murder by the Bush Administration. Many couples have abandoned their embryos, no longer paying the storage fees or responding to the clinic's requests as to their intentions. So the clinics are left with the quandary as to what to with these abandoned potential children.
So the question is should these potential parents be prosecuted for child abandonment or even murder, if indeed these embryos die due to their neglect?
How much of a moron does one have to be to take this post literally? Does anyone with the IQ of a flea really think the author of the post is literally proposing murder prosecution for the potential parents?
Good question since you are the one who posted it. Why did you post this?
Interesting. The point was recently made that -- scientifically -- there is very little difference between in vitro fertilization and cloning and that had the nation been a bit more alert, then in vitro would be the subject of controversy.
I can't help but wonder if these forgotten embryos are the result of the whims on the part of the idle rich.
Legal
I read in the paper that there is a new act that parents have to take parenting classes when they get a divorce! Why is that?
Ozzy -- You have to ask???!!! My gawd, my former husband became a bigger monster after the divorce than he was prior to it. The kids hated him for years . . . and the boys still do. Their therapists kept informing me that they called their father "the @$$hole." It took me years to get them to call him, "Alan," his first name. They still refuse to call him Dad or Father. They're now 28, 26 and 21 and we separated when they were 14, 12 and 7.
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