What\u2019s the difference between a pet Burmese Python and a human baby? Nothing. Or everything. It depends on your worldview.<\/p>\n
Americans have a thing for the exotic, no matter how costly it may prove to other people. For instance, the Florida Everglades are home to, among other species, Nile crocodiles, green anacondas, and most famously, tens of thousands of Burmese pythons.<\/p>\n
As words like \u201cNile\u201d and \u201cBurmese\u201d suggest, none of these species are native to Florida or even to this continent. Their presence in the Everglades, and the damage they\u2019re causing to that fragile ecosystem, is the result of people indulging their desire for exotic pets and then dumping them when they become inconvenient.<\/p>\n
As bad as this sort of self-indulgence is when we\u2019re talking reptiles, it\u2019s infinitely worse when the exotic commodity is people.<\/p>\n
A recent listing on Craigslist ran this header: \u201c50K+ Compensation: East Indian\/South Asian looking Egg Donor Needed.\u201d The listing included a photo of the kind of egg donor the solicitor had in mind: a beautiful woman of Asian origin, the kind that tend to do well in Miss World and Miss Universe pageants.<\/p>\n
The people behind the listing, who describe themselves as \u201ca well respected [sic] boutique egg donation and surrogacy agency in Southern California,\u201d didn\u2019t stop at the merely superficial.<\/p>\n
In addition to having an \u201cattractive\u201d and \u201cexotic\u201d \u201cEast Indian look,\u201d the egg donor must be intelligent as well, with at least a 3.5 GPA and a 2150 on the SAT, which would place her in the 97th percentile.<\/p>\n
In other words, this woman, this donor, must be statistically-improbable. In exchange for being this improbable, the egg donor would not only be well-compensated, she would \u201cchange someone\u2019s life in a way that is truly the world\u2019s greatest gift.\u201d<\/p>\n
Funny, I thought gifts were free.<\/p>\n
This solicitation isn\u2019t unprecedented. In 1999, ads in the newspapers of elite universities offered $50,000 to \u201cathletic\u201d women who were at least 5\u201910\u201d and had scored 1400 or better on their SATs. Little wonder that, since then, stories about Ivy League grads being offered big money for their eggs has been a recurring item in the news.<\/p>\n
None of which changes the fact that we\u2019re talking about not only buying life, but life made-to-order, or at least as close as we can for now.<\/p>\n
Our culture has already decided the principle moral question of whether it is okay to treat our children as a customized consumer experience. And as I recently said on BreakPoint, advances in genetics, like CRISPR gene editing, offer the promise of allowing us to custom order children straight from the factory, as it were, rather than limit ourselves to what\u2019s available at the dealership.<\/p>\n
The desire for customizable \u201cexotic-looking\u201d children is the product of the same worldview that prompts people to buy exotic pets: As Westerners we think of ourselves primarily as consumers, with inherent rights to any and all goods in a global marketplace.<\/p>\n
This consumer view of the world extends beyond the shopping mall and Amazon.com. It now includes the conceiving, birthing, choosing, and raising of children. Unable, too busy, or too stressed to spend nine months being pregnant? Hire a surrogate, preferably an \u201cEast Asian\/South Asian\u201d one who\u2019ll do the job for less.<\/p>\n
Want a hedge to protect your parental investment? Buy eggs from attractive, accomplished women.<\/p>\n
This is where our obsession with restriction-free choice and personal autonomy leads. Babies become products, things to be desired, acquired, and even discarded when they do not meet our tastes and desires.<\/p>\n
A culture like this makes a swamp full of pythons and crocodiles look reassuring by comparison.<\/p>\n
To better understand this evil, I invite you to check out the powerful documentary from the Center for Bioethics and Culture entitled \u201cEggsploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
RESOURCES<\/p>\n
Eggsploitation , documentary
\n http:\/\/www.eggsploitation.com\/about.htm<\/p>\n
50K+ Compensation: East Indian\/South Asian looking Egg Donor Needed
\nCraigslist Philadelphia | March 9, 2016
\n http:\/\/philadelphia.craigslist.org\/etc\/5484476382.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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