Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ora!daemon
From: w25y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Can we sell our bodies and our rights?
Message-ID: <1990Oct29.234758.667@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Date: 30 Oct 90 18:27:30 GMT
References: <9010261655.AA05142@cobalt.cco.caltech.edu> <1777@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
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In article <1777@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>, falk@peregrine.Eng.Sun.COM (Ed Falk) writes:
> Ok, so who was the mother in the Anna Johnson vs. the Calverts case?
> Anna Johnson, who gave birth to the baby, or Crispina Calvert who
> conceived it with her husband?

How about using the following standard:

Since the birth mother is by definition present at the delivery, she
can be determined unambiguously.  She is noted on the child's birth
certificate under "MOTHER".  If she is in a legally binding marriage
(common law or otherwise) her spouse is noted as "FATHER".  If either
of them later wish to deny this designation, they may use genetic
tests to verify this.  Even if they ARE the genetic parents, they may
opt to surrender parental rights, but this gets into adoption law.  I
will also avoid for the moment the thorny issue of chasing down
delinquent fathers.

If a third party shows up with a contract saying that s/he has
purchased the child in question, s/he is charged with attempting to
purchase a human being in violation of anti-slavery laws.

This standard might not be "genetically just", but it is hopefully
less ambiguous and more enforcable than what we have now, and avoids
the (in my opinion) dangerous precedent of allowing the purchase of
people.

After all, if a woman can agree in advance to sell her child, could
her child not someday become collateral in a business transaction, ala
Rumpelstiltskin and other grisly fairy tales?

                   -- Paul Ciszek
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