Babies For Sale?

     There are no coincidences.

     Last night, our beloved Margaret Ball, with whom I often exchange ideas for and about books, sent me this incredible bit of news:

     On June 12, the Massachusetts House is expected to vote on a bill that would allow mothers to exchange their children for money—that is, engage in baby-selling—under the name of “parentage equality.”
     The “Parentage Equality” bill seeks to redefine parenthood. Parenthood is recognized on its natural biological basis, or in cases of adoption, justice for a child who has suffered loss by providing them with a safe, loving home. This bill redefines it on the basis of a “person’s intent to be a parent of a child.” In doing so, it strips all mention of mothers and fathers from parentage law, replacing these vital familial roles with gender-erased language.
     Finally, and most concerning, under H.4672, Massachusetts would allow for commercial surrogacy both in cases wherein the woman carrying the child is genetically unrelated to the child and in cases where she is exchanging her biological child for money.

     We have arrived at the entrance to Hell.

     I’ve written on other occasions, and in other venues, about the commodification of human life. However, just now the news above has a special impact on me, as I’m writing a novel about a development which, though it’s as value-neutral as any other aspect of science or technology, has the potential to enable evil men to inflict horrors on helpless children…and in some cases, on their biological parents as well.

     I have no idea what notions inspired some Massachusetts legislator to propose such a measure, nor what impulse led the legislature to entertain the proposal. They vote on it today, apparently. The vote will tell us a lot about how far we have fallen. I’m not sanguine about it, especially as the bill probably has the support of the odious LGBTQ+ “community.” (Note the presence of the word “equality” in the title, and the absence of any reference to men, women, fathers, or mothers.)

     If this adroit method of selling human flesh should become legal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you can bet your last dollar that other “blue” states will swiftly adopt similar measures. There’s a huge market for babies. The market will only grow with the advent of detailed genotyping: babies to specification and on order.

     Writer Patience Griswold concludes thus:

     Women and children are not commodities. Children have a right to be born free, not bought and sold. No amount of saccharine wording can mask the fact that the “Parentage Equality” bill monetizes women’s bodies and turns children into products. The women and children of Massachusetts deserve better.

     It cannot be put more plainly – nor more horrifyingly – than that.

     Ironically, Griswold’s observation that the bill “monetizes women’s bodies” is one that has been made before. The occasion, of course, is prostitution, an activity which many in the liberty movement say should be legal. (Full disclosure: despite the potential for abuse, I agree.) I have no doubt that there are libertarians who will compare the two cases and say “Well, if one should be legal, why not the other?” Yet another reason why I’ve chosen to distance myself from other libertarians.

     Can you smell the brimstone, Gentle Reader? I can.