|
Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
 Posted - 09/07/2001 : 01:19:32 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Hi, Folks,
I'm a long-time habitue of the BA site and a somewhat more recent lurker here. Thought I'd throw out a topic for you all.
Here in Masssachusetts, two legal cases just hit the news that fall into the science & society category.
In the first, a woman is suing to have the biological father of her twin daughters named as the legal father. The girls were conceived by artificial insemination after the death of the father, who had his sperm frozen before the cancer took his life. The legal issue is, are the children entitled to his death benefit from Social Security? It's before the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court.
The second issue is slightly different. The biological parents of a child are trying to get the biological mother's name on the child's birth certificate. Seems a reasonable request, right? Except that the baby was born to a surrogate mother, who carried the in-virto fertilized egg to term. State law required the birth-mother's name to go on the birth certificate.
I provide these examples in hopes of starting a discussion of the problems that our legal system has in keeping up with scientific progress. It's clearly an ongoing issue, from the Scopes trial to the predictable litigation over GM crops and the like, and seems likely to get a lot worse before it gets better. Thoughts anyone?
Brian: "No, no! You have to think for yourselves!" Crowd: "Yes! We have to think for ourselves!"
Interesting!
In the 1st case, on the surface it does sound complicated but there's much to much information missing to begin to make a comment, let along a judgment.
The 2nd one, 1st of all there should have been a contract between the parties involved. Next, I don't understand AT ALL, why anyone is so desperate for a child to go through all that. Whatever! Maybe if those people who do it would think it through a bit more, we as a society and in the courts wouldn't have to waste time arguing about it.
I don't see why the state legislature couldn't make a simple change and allow for those situations. Who the hell cares what name is on the birth certificate, when they legalize who the parents are, they then will be responsible for the child. Parents are who raise it, whoever gives birth is no big deal.
Rap Crap is to music what Paint by Numbers is to art. |
 |
|
Topic Locked
