PING!
Posted on 10/03/2006 10:19:19 AM PDT by GMMAC
Redefining parenthood
Edmonton Sun
Monday, October 2, 2006
By Mindelle Jacobs
While a lesbian waits to see if she'll be recognized as the third parent of a little boy, a new report is warning that kids are being harmed by adult self-indulgence.
"In the global rush to redefine parenthood, we need to call a time out," says the study, released last week by four conservative groups, including the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada.
The report examines what it describes as the "global clash" between adult rights and children's needs in an age when the concept of parenthood is continually changing.
Cultural attitudes are shifting as same-sex couples raise kids and reproductive technologies advance and the long-term consequences are uncertain, says the study.
"Around the world, the state is a fast-growing active player in the field of redefining parenthood," it says.
"This redefinition increasingly emphasizes adults' rights to children rather than children's needs to know and be raised, whenever possible, by their mother and father."
Such moves are being made largely without any real public awareness or debate, it adds.
The paper calls for a five-year moratorium on any changes that would undermine the importance of moms and dads in the lives of their children.
That time out should be used for an "urgently needed conversation" and research about the revolution in parenthood and the needs of kids, it says.
Group marriage
If children are recognized as having three or more legal parents, the argument for accepting group marriage won't be far behind, the study warns.
"If we get to that place, pity the children," it says. "Already, we see the havoc wreaked on children's lives when two parents break up and fight over their best interests.
"Imagine when three or more adults who have equal claims on a child end their relationship."
The judge who heard the original application of the London, Ont., lesbian who wants status as a third parent expressed similar concerns that custody and access disputes would be even messier with more adults involved.
"If a child can have three parents, why not four or six or a dozen?" the judge wondered.
He rejected the woman's application and the Ontario Court of Appeal is now considering the issue.
The five-year-old boy who is the subject of the all the fuss was conceived by artificial insemination and his biological father is also involved in his life.
Any guesses as to whether the two lesbians and sperm-donor dad will still be happily involved in the boy's life in 10 years?
Even five?
This is not to suggest that people of all stripes, including lesbians, gays, sperm donors, egg donors and surrogates, can't be good parents.
Long-term effects
But all these new parenting permutations are relatively recent and, as the report points out, the long-term effects on children are unknown.
Consider some of the strange happenings the report examines. In New Zealand, a law commission has proposed that sperm or egg donors be allowed to opt in to parenthood.
In Australia, sperm donors are permitted to contact their adult offspring who may not know about their genetic background.
A surrogate mom was awarded custody of triplets recently in Pennsylvania when the 62-year-old man and his 60-year-old girlfriend who hired the surrogate failed to pick up the babies from the hospital.
"Are children commodities to be produced by the marketplace?" asks the study.
It's time to slow down and assess the implications of what we're doing, says Dave Quist, executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada.
"There are more questions than we have answers to."
mjacobs@edmsun.com
PING!
The current Pope warned us of this almost twenty years ago.
Good heavens, NO. We wouldn't even suggest that the fruitcake that shot up the Amish school wouldn't make a good parent before he actually started binding the kids' feet.
There is no right or wrong, you know. Only forcing someone to do something they don't want to do.
With the exception of paying taxes.
But I digress.
Shalom.
Why not?
BTW I am the proud grandparent of a brand new little Canadian!
Mazel tov!
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