Snarky Sermon on the Blog: The Handmaid's Tale (Petri Dish Edition)

Where in the Bible does it read, "And lo, Rachel and Jacob sent their eggs and sperm to India, where they were implanted into a surrogate for a payment of $5000? And the poor Indian surrogate conceived, and bare (sic) Jacob a son and was able to update her family kitchen and augment her household income?

And where does it read that Rachel and Jacob would never have considered "juicing up" their DNA and producing a Wal-Mart priced designer baby had the option been available to them?

Outsourcing pregnancies to India
Rising numbers of infertile couples from U.S. and Europe are coming to India to hire surrogate mothers.

By Henry Chu
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Saturday, April 22, 2006

ANAND, India — As temp jobs go, Saroj Mehli has landed what she feels is a pretty sweet deal. It's a nine-month gig, no special skills needed, and the only real labor comes at the end — when she gives birth.

If everything goes according to plan, Mehli, 32, will deliver a healthy baby early next year. But rather than join her other three children, the newborn will be handed over to a U.S. couple who are unable to bear a child on their own and are hiring Mehli to do it for them.

She'll be paid about $5,000 for acting as a surrogate mother, a bonanza that would take her more than six years to earn on her schoolteacher's salary. "I might renovate or add to the house, or spend it on my kids' education or my daughter's wedding," Mehli said. Much more...

The baby brokerage biz is just like the funeral biz: demand for services will never diminish. And demand for low-cost alternatives is always priority #1.

Thus Endeth Today's Sermon.

Go forth today and consider this surrogacy trend as merely the latest in a long line of medical practices (like organ harvesting) available to the western world because of our wealth and desire...

Are we Americans turning poor Indians into incubators and spare parts warehouses? Another thing to consider...

At this rate, designer babies cooked up in Indian Petri dishes could be the next craze. When this becomes common practice, will you accept that naturally-born "take your chances" babies will face lifelong discrimination?

Think about it.

I mean it, damn it!


So you think you know Delilah?
Judges 16:19-- And she made him (Samson) sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head.