welsch@houxu.UUCP (07/23/83)
Yesterday's, (Friday March 21), New York Times had a front page article on fetus transplants. This new technology, I believe raises a number of interesting questions, many related to the abortion question. Given that we had a technology for transplanting fetuses then: 1. Does society have the right to find a woman to bear a fetus/child whose genetic father and mother do not want the fetus/child? 2. If the genetic mother of a fetus/child does not wish to have the child then does the genetic father of a fetus/child have the right to find a woman who will bear the child and insist on a fetus transplant? 3. In the case where a woman bears a child that is not genetically hers, what rights/responsibilities does she have for the child and what rights/responsibilities does the genetic mother have for the child? 4. If society cannot find a woman willing to bear a fetus/child and the genetic mother does not wish to have the fetus/child then should the fetus be aborted? 5. What rights/responsibilities does the genetic father have for a fetus/child that was transplanted? Are they the same as if the fetus/child was not transplanted? It appears to me that technology is providing us with moral questions that do not have simple answers. Larry Welsch ihnp4!houxj!houxu!welsch
bstempleton@watmath.UUCP (Brad Templeton) (07/26/83)
I may be wrong, but I think "transplant" is not the right term here. I think the egg is actually fertilized in vitro, ie. outside the womb in a glass container. Thus there is no transplant from the womb of the genetic mother, but I could be wrong. In this case, all your questions are meaningless. Even if they weren't, I don't understand what society has to do with the whole thing. Since we are not destroying the fetus, anti-abortionist issues don't apply. The real question is that of "host-mothering", and what the courts will say about that. It will shortly be the desire of a rich couple to hire a poorer woman to bring the baby to term to avoid the risk to the rich mother. Nothing wrong with this in my book as long as all choices are made in full knowledge of risks, but what will the courts say? -- Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ont. (519) 886-7304