Re: Public paying what should be privately paid for...
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Wed Jan 5 14:00:19 2005
"That government is best which governs least."
-- Thomas Paine
art
At Wed, 5 Jan 2005, Henry Gregor wrote:
>
>One doesn't need to discuss surrogate pregnacies to get involved with issues of who should pay for what, for whom. Dangerous territory to explore, and like racism, elitism, reverse discrimination, sexism, ageism, etc. always a topic quick to degrade into emotional, vitriolic, diatribes rather than explorations of issues. Good point to bring up though. If one is going to hold the folks requesting surrogacy services accountable, what then re the costs of multiple birth assisted reproductive pregnancies and their hugh pre and post natal costs, what of the reproductive sociopath male who impregnates a range of partners while standing by few or none of them and their offspring? What of the reproductive sociopath daughter - question asked recently not by me or at my instigation but by her patient-of-mine mother - who has had four boys on welfare medical care, existing on AFDC, now pregnant by a financially non-supportive male, who cares not re the circumstances, as the gravida isn't
> stopping till she gets her gal? Simply raising these issues is a third rail for public policy officials and yet while we as a nation do not address them, the circumstances continue to occur, and the societal responses vary all over the roadmap, most often to the misfortune of born or yet to be be born children. My understanding of law is that it evovlves in response to societal issues over changing landscapes of time, cultural values, scientifice and social sciences knowledge, etc. Perhaps the issues related to surrogacy law will help develop into consideration of these other areas of concern as well.
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>Lastly, I remember one of my grandfathers, a veritable prototype of the very intelligent person deprived of an education and therefore almost religiously reverential in his regard for it, commenting to a very very young edition of me, that television - with people like "Mr. Morrow" were going to take society and civilization to a higher level than ever dreamed of, given television's ability to bring so many important issues to so many people previously without resources of knowledge and informed people to discuss things with them and present such topics to huge numbers of intereseted citizens. Boy, I'm not glad JaJa's dead folks, but am glad he's not around to here the likes of all the shouting mouths from all ends of the spectrum who are more interested in providing us the tv journalists' version of http://www wrestling than disinterested and informed issue analysis.
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>So, without having read the law in question (and most likely being unable to comprehend it astutely if I had, lol), I'm glad the law was passed, as it seems to put something of well intended substance into what was virtually a vacuum. ... and now the usual legal evoluationary process can proceed. I'm not concerned whether such a bill has flaws. All laws carry unintended consequences. Only way for a body politic to produce an unflawed law is to never pass any law.
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>Hank
--
art fougner, md
May the Joy of this Holiday Season Be with You
and Yours throughout the New Year.
