Techno-babies

By Judie Brown


© Maurizio De Angelis/Wellcome Images (CC by-nc-nd)

David and Melissa Pineda wanted desperately to have another child. In 2013 the couple went to Dr. Rifaat Salem for an IVF treatment that they hoped would give them their fourth child.

But what happened soon after nearly broke their hearts.

They found out later that Salem allegedly discovered that he had "mistakenly implanted" embryos from a total stranger into Mrs. Pineda. In addition to that, he subsequently used two different techniques to abort the embryonic children.

Now the Pinedas are suing Salem for malpractice. Though Mrs. Pineda says she went to the clinic to "have a baby, not to kill a baby," the doctor in question is not being sued for killing innocent human beings but rather for malpractice, as he did not receive proper consent from the Pinedas.

According to the couple's attorney, "There's no question in my mind that this was a viable healthy pregnancy that he wanted to make sure did not continue. That's why he did two things: a chemical abortion and a surgical abortion. He wanted to be 1 billion percent sure this baby did not go to full term."

The couple told the media they never would have agreed to an abortion had Salem asked them in advance.

In the news the same day as the Pineda's story hit, another report came across our office e-mails. A Georgia man had paid a surrogate named Melissa Cook to carry his baby, but he became "overwhelmed" when he learned that she was carrying not one but three babies. His response, unlike what you might expect from the father of triplets, was to demand that the surrogate mother abort one of the children. Cook responded by saying that she could not abort one of the babies as she had bonded with each of them and understands that they are human beings.

Now the father of the triplets is threatening to ruin Cook financially – by denying her the money he agreed to pay in the first place – if she does not comply with his demand to abort one of the children.

Dr. Manny Alvarez, a Fox News contributor, opined:

While most reports center around the legal and monetary ramifications of the dispute, what isn't being discussed is the health implications to both this surrogate mother and the unborn children she is carrying. And this is why I am so disgusted by this story. It is a tragedy – and almost everyone is to blame. The only real victims in this situation are these poor, little, unborn children.

Reproductive technology made it possible for the children mentioned here to enter the world as preborn human beings, and in the process the same technology has reduced each of the children in question to a commodity that can be traded, discarded, killed, or accepted according to the whims of the parties involved. This commoditization of babies, akin to human trafficking, is becoming a growing problem in today's culture. We see that these children have become mere products; they are techno-babies – children not viewed as human beings by at least some of the parties involved.

Such technology breeds cavalier attitudes toward the lives of these techno-babies. As a result, the dignity that each preborn child possesses is ignored by brash doctors and self-centered would-be parents. The result is heartache and death.

The best response to these technological nightmares is to instill in children at a very young age an appreciation of human dignity as a priceless gift.

The Culture of Life Studies Program team articulates: "Give your children that early encounter with the masterpieces of God's creation, show them pictures of precious preborn babies, and teach them scientifically accurate information about the stages of human development. Once your child has personal knowledge of the sanctity of human beings from the first moment of creation and a solid understanding of moral ethics, he will be better equipped to defend all human beings with his friends, his coworkers, or even his college professor."

Every preborn baby is precious and not a single one should be killed for any reason. Ever.

© Judie Brown