In a lecture at Clemson University, Michael Knowles argued that IVF and surrogacy are rife with moral hazards and have effectively transformed human children into “commodities to be bought and sold.”
Knowles began the lecture by noting that the issue in some ways is a natural outgrowth of gender ideology – the practice of homosexual couples artificially conceiving a child via in vitro fertilization, and, in the case of gay men, hiring a surrogate mother to carry the child to term, has become increasingly common in recent years.
“If men and women really aren’t different, then moms and dads really aren’t different,” Knowles notes. “And if moms and dads really aren’t different, then why would anyone need, or even want, to have both of them? What’s the difference between a family and a couple of fellas if that premise is true?”
Knowles argued that children need both of their biological parents, that the bond between mother and child is unique and profound and that separating a child from their mother is inconceivably cruel. Knowles laments that while it had once been a rare tragedy for infants to lose their mothers, it is now standard practice for a growing industry.
However, Knowles argues that gender ideology is the sole cause of this situation, which he argues is most fundamentally the outgrowth of a culture where children are perceived as things that can be owned, bought, and sold rather than as people in their own right.
“I do not primarily blame the homosexuals of either sex for this awful situation.” Knowles said. “They are simply following a 60-year series of delusions that our culture and politics have promoted to their logical conclusion.”
Knowles argues that the “primary culprit” behind this phenomenon is capitalism,“more precisely… capitalism, unconstrained by morality, and more precisely still, the commodification of children… Capitalism, circumscribed by morality, is as fine a method for producing morality as has ever been discovered. Capitalism, unconstrained by morality, is a monstrosity.”
Beyond the issue, Knowles also raised objections to the treatment of many fertilized embryos — some are aborted in cases where more embryos successfully implant than the customer anticipated, while other “extra” embryos are frozen indefinitely or unceremoniously disposed of, which Knowles contends is callous disregard for human life.
Knowles notes that many people are alive today because of IVF and that it is understandable that they and their families would be reflexively supportive of the technology, but he says that noble ends do not necessarily justify means. Knowles agrees that a human life is good and has intrinsic value no matter how that life came into existence. However, he argues that while a child conceived by rape has all the same rights and dignity as a child conceived in a loving marriage, that in no way justifies rape.
Knowles argues that children should be understood as a “blessing,” and not a “thing” people are entitled to have or buy, and that while no adult has an inherent right to have a child, children have a right to the love and support of their biological parents.
Post a Comment