Controlling who can and cannot have IVF?

Yesterday, I thought we were living in a terrible nightmare where The Handmaid’s Tale was on the verge of becoming reality. To quote extensively from Brendan Coyne’s article in The New Standard:


    Oct. 5 – A legislative commission in Indiana may recommend the state adopt strict new rules governing medically-assisted reproduction. The proposed legislation would bar unmarried people from having babies except through sexual intercourse and makes doing so – or even attempting to do so – a misdemeanor.

    Same-sex and unmarried couples, as well as singles, would be legally prevented from using methods other than sexual intercourse to have a family under the legislation. In most cases, Indiana adoption law already prevents singles and homosexuals from adopting children, the Journal Gazette noted.

    In addition to preventing people not in “traditional families” from using medical means to become parents, the bill would set a series of difficult, intrusive and potentially arbitrary standards that would-be parents must pass prior to approval of any artificial insemination procedures.

(The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette also picked up the story).

I mean, what the hell…unauthorized reproduction?? Refusing to let single woman and gay couples have access to IVF, simply on account of them being single or gay? Arbitrary tests that would-be parents must meet before they’re allowed to have IVF? Because we’re trying to breed a super-race of conservatives, and only those who are heterosexually joined in holy matrimony are allowed to have babies??

Right.

So, as of today, I was incredibly happy to see that they came to their senses rather quickly. “State Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, issued a one-sentence statement Wednesday saying: ‘The issue has become more complex than anticipated and will be withdrawn from consideration by the Health Finance Commission.’ ”

Well, duh. But I suppose that in a climate where the FDA refuses to approve Plan B on completely spurious grounds, and Roe v. Wade is becoming more and more endangered on a daily basis…deciding who can and cannot have IVF is the logical next step, right? Except for this one little caveat in our Constitution which talks about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all, not just for straight, married couples.

This entry was posted in Choice, Fertility and Conception, Politics. Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

*
*