[HawaiianGecko]

Well reasoned and insightful article.

[conservative cat]

This just makes me ill. It takes one egg (from a woman) and one sperm (from a man) to make a child. Children deserve to know their parentage.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

The slippery slope seems to have an awful lot of Vaseline on it these days.

[yooling]

Lord, please come and fulfill the prophesy of the Revelation. I'm afraid that the world is due for a flush. Thanks, me

[LWalk18]

I think this argument is slighty off- adopted children already receive new birth certificates, with their adoptive paretns listed as mother and father. The original is sealed with the records. There is nothing wrong with this practice, it saves the child from embarassment and protects the privacy of birth parents.

The problem of "parent" and "parent" is that it eliminates the gender differences inherent in "mother" and "father". A mother is not just a female parent, it is a distinct role, as is being a father.

[FormerLib]

For lesbian couples, record the name of the birth mother and "Sperm Donor" as the father.

For turd burglars, list the father and "Womb Donor" as the mother.

The "other parent" can get his/her name on an adoption certificate.

[George Smiley]

Dr. Seuss was a visionary.

Just call 'em "Thing One" and "Thing Two".

[CharlesWayneCT]

I think in the interest of keeping the most useful information, birth certificates should be required to list the name of the people who gave the egg and sperm. If they want to have additional names, that's fine. If they want to have a second, non-official document, that's fine.

But when the kid is 25, and we discover the cure for something, but it requires cells from a parent, we'll feel pretty stupid knowing that for the sake of PC we sacrificed these children's chance for treatment.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Most if not all states routinely issue birth certificates showing the names of adoptive parents, instead of biological parents. And all states routinely issue birth certificates listing whatever man the mother happens to name as "father", with research showing that a large percentage of these are not the actual biological fathers. Birth certificates, at least for the past century or so, have never been intended as a means of identifying a child's biological parentage, but rather as a means of identifying a child's legal parentage -- who has rights to make decisions for the child.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Parent A and Parent B - and baby makes C?

So on the registration form, do they identify homosexual couples by asking: "Two 'B', or not two 'B'?" ;)

[shezza]

"Thing" is used here neither dismissively nor derisively, but as a term of stunning accuracy. Throughout our culture, children have become objectified, "thingified," created or acquired for the fulfillment of our selves - decor options, accessories, cute little bundles for our entertainment and amusement.

Precisely.

[MirrorField]

Now with technology, sperm donors and "uterobots" - women willing to sell or give away the flesh of their flesh - any random collection of human beings can "parent."

I'd take an exception to author's implications and use of term "uterobots" here. Said women are providing a service; no more, no less. And while the morality of providing such services may be questioned (like prostitution), casting sly comparisons with slavery is dishonest. Also, it would be quite dishonest to mark such mere "rent-a-womb" or "egg donor" as a mother, especially if she didn't provide the egg...

[Mrs. Don-o]

Woman. Man. Marriage. One flesh. Baby.

As George Orwell said, "We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men."

Or as G.K. Chesterton said, "The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice."