Wendey writes:

> Nobody just chooses an egg/sperm donor just because they want to and
>it's their right to.  They do it because they *can't* do it the 'natural'
>way.  Not for reasons tied up in "issues".

Ah, maybe at present, but.....what would happen if  egg/sperm donor
conception/IVF/surrogate pregnancy/artificial uteruses were safe, reliable
and easy to obtain?

I think we'd find there was a 'market' for this sort of thing. Of course
there would be health issues for mother and baby but they would be buried
for at least a few decades (I heard no one is systematically following IVF
babies into their own reproductive years, and we already know that research
shows ICSI babies are more at risk of abnormalty - not saying *at all* that
these developments should cease, of course not, but we should, as a
society, be fully aware of any health price to pay for them...and we are
not).

Caesarean section is already *promoted* in some sectors as being safer,
more convenient and less traumatising than vaginal birth.

There are tons of 'issues', many to do with the position of women in
society, tied up with reproduction and birthing - it is just as political
as anything else touching women's lives....including feeding.

And as for health issues being buried for a few decades, isn't this exactly
what has happened and is still happening with feeding?

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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