I just watched the News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Susan Dentzer, editor-in-chief of Health Affairs, came on to explain Obama's policy on stem cell research. This policy allows for federal funding to be used for embryonic stem cell research, but only if said embryos were "responsibly created".
What, you might ask, makes discarded embryos responsibly created? That they were discarded by baby-fevered members of the upper middle class or better, of course! Only embryos created for the purpose of in vitro fertilization (IVF) past muster. Because going in for an extraction costs thousands whereas getting one additional egg when you're already in costs very little, and because an unfertilized egg will only remain viable outside the body for a limited time, usually more eggs are extracted and fertilized (~12) than are ultimately implanted (2 to 4 per round). People want extras in case none in a given round take. These extras are usually cyrogenically frozen and stored in fertility clinics. And so now this country has ~400,000 such embryos that can be used for federally funded stem cell research.
The notion that embryos that are available because a woman wanted children were necessarily more responsibly created than ones that are available because she didn't is a really sexist one. It reminds me of that old saying, "being a mother is a woman's highest calling". Of course, almost no one says it seriously anymore. But the attitude is still alive and kicking (no pun intended).
If pro-lifers believe embryos to be precious human life, then why don't they consider letting them sit frozen indefinitely murder, or at the very least, criminal neglect? Why aren't "pro-life" activists picketing fertility clinics; why aren't their extremists assassinating IVF specialists? Because they're not really about protecting innocent life, and they never were. They're about protecting society from women who have sex for pleasure. If the birth control many of these people never wanted you to have fails, they want you "punished with a baby".
I don't believe that embryos are precious human life, and as such, I have no problem with IVF. I do have a problem with the sexist and classist notion that getting rid of one embryo because you can't afford to keep it (or whatever) is necessarily irresponsible while getting rid of many embryos because you can afford to shell out thousands on IVF is necessarily responsible.
And I don't believe Obama is particularly sexist or classist. I think he's just doing what he does best--being conciliatory. True to form, Obama didn't even mention the issue of abortion in his speech introducing the executive order. But I digress. This policy frees ~400,000 embryos for federally funded stem cell research and keeps him free to pick his battles. Now he can work on Don't Ask Don't Tell or marriage equality... oh wait.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Obama's stem cell policy lays bare nauseating sexism, classism of pro-life movement.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/14817
Im really sorry but im not sure I compleatly understand part of your artical. I dont know an extensive ammount about IVF as I grew up in a a house very much against it (although I compleatly agree with you), could you explain a bit more clearly? Especially:
That they were discarded by baby-fevered members of the upper middle class or better, of course! Only embryos created for the purpose of in vitro fertilization (IVF) past muster. Because going in for an extraction costs thousands whereas getting one additional egg when you're already in costs very little, and because an unfertilized egg will only remain viable outside the body for a limited time, usually more eggs are extracted and fertilized (~12) than are ultimately implanted (2 to 4 per round). People want extras in case none in a given round take. These extras are usually cyrogenically frozen and stored in fertility clinics. And so now this country has ~400,000 such embryos that can be used for federally funded stem cell research.
What do you mean by extraction costing more but getting another egg costs little? Wouldnt that be extraction aswell and still be costly? Just need a bit of clarification please. I understand the concept of course, but it was a bit confusing. Sorry x.x *hides*
What I'm gathering from your post is that only embryos created for IVF are going to be used for embryonic stem cell research, but not embryos that are the product of an abortion. I do see this as a problem. It implies that making embryos is inherently responsible, whether or not those embryos turn into babies, but aborting an embryo is inherently irresponsible, even if those embryos are used in research that can save the lives of millions.
Many pro-life organizations are against IVF, and they do protest outside of IVF clinics. However, they don't use the same rhetoric to describe embryos in a petri dish as they do with embryos inside a woman. I made a blog post about this well over a year ago, and I might repost it on the community blog. But the gist of it is that pro-lifers don't call embryos that are used for IVF "babies" or "children." Embroys are only babies and children when they're inside women, according to anti-choicers. I'm not sure why this is. They might be trying to play on the stereotype that women are sensitive mothering creatures. It's something that has always confused me.
"What I'm gathering from your post is that only embryos created for IVF are going to be used for embryonic stem cell research, but not embryos that are the product of an abortion."
I gathered that, too, and I am really confused. The embryos that result from IVF are like 4 cells big. A) At 4 cells big, a woman doesn't even know she's pregnant. B) Just try extracting a 4 cell cluster from the uterine lining that will come along with it. I don't see abortion becoming a source for embryonic stem cells anytime soon, and that's not because pro-lifers are opposed to it.
Pro-lifers generally do oppose IVF. However, the type of people who protest outside clinics prefer abortion, especially late-term abortion, to protest - probably because it's easier to get sympathy for.