Brave New Parents
At a party a few days ago, someone mentioned that he has relatives who are having a child through a surrogate. Twins, I think. Well, what do you say to that? “Congratulations?” I suppose that it’s nice for the couple who has always wanted children but couldn’t naturally conceive and/or carry them. So, yea, I guess “Congratulations,” fits. I reckon that most surrogacies end without a big deal, with most parents getting their children without much protest from the surrogate.
Couples who have had no success with traditional attempts to start a natural family can offer important services to the life of the human person, exempli gratia, assistance to poor or handicapped children and their families. I know a old lady who never had children. She has lost two husbands and has miscarried a dozen babies. This lady did exactly what she was here to do: She taught handicapped children to mold clay into bowls and vases. She shared her talents. It is from childless couples that I hear the most comments about how children are a blessing and are gifts from Heaven. And I absolutely agree. My kids carry my genetic information, which, I hope, they will pass to their own children. That is why we are here: To make more of us.
With marriage being the foundation of the natural family, how is surrogacy tolerable? How do I possibly offer congratulations to a couple who are behaving contrary to the unity of marriage? They are interfering with the natural process of human procreation, which is the purpose of marriage. “Hey, congratulations on disrespecting the origin of human life! How does it feel to desecrate the dignity of procreation? Awww, must be nice.”
Maybe I’m being too traditional. Maybe it is God’s will for His people to be fertilized in vitro and gestated in artificial wombs. Maybe Aldous Huxley was a prophet.
January 10th, 2007 at 2:12 pm
I’d love to do all the work that I believe to be noble. But I don’t have the time nor the resources to be everybody’s foster mother and be volunteering for most charities. But I *do* offer important services to families and children. I just don’t go around tooting my own horn about it.
The purpose of marriage is to procreate. It’s nice to have someone to hang out with, cook together, go to sports events, concerts, et cetera, together. But if the married couple doesn’t have the stress of children, in my book, they’re still considered “single.” God cannot be limited. I know a couple who were diagnosed with infertility. They tried for years to conceive with fertility treatments. A few years ago, they decided to give up, just relax with the whole “let’s start a family” idea. And they went to Italy, got drunk, made a baby. A perfectly healthy, natural baby. Talk about infertility diagnosis! Seven months later, they made yet another baby. It sounds like you are the one who is limiting God. The miracle of life comes from God, not from a petri dish.