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10/04/2005 Archived Entry: "Legislator wants government to control reproduction"

WHEN YOU THINK OF ULTIMATE SCARY SCIENCE-FICTION TYRANNIES one of the specific things you might imagine is having to get a government license to be "allowed" to reproduce.

Well, come peer through the gates of Dystopia. It's located right there in Indiana, where a state legislator wants to outright forbid any unmarried person to use artificial insemination, donor eggs, or any other aid to pregnancy. Even married couples seeking to have a baby with anything other than the husband's sperm and the wife's eggs would have to file a "petition for parenthood" and receive government consent before making babies. Some people are understandably ticked off about it.

Of course this is still merely some legislator's do-gooding dream. Not even out of committee yet. But it's worth noting where conditions in this increasingly Looney Land are heading -- and who's taking us there. This legislation is "for the children" and, naturally, it's the dream of one of those great, freedom-loving Republicans. You know, the people who believe in getting government off our backs, the people who believe in individual initiative and the sovereignty of the family. Let's hope it isn't also that other favorite of governments everywhere: the camel's nose under the tent.

(Thanks to Herself for the news of the weird. Just when you think things can't get any stranger ... things always do.)

EDIT 10/6: Just got word from Herself that this legislation has been withdrawn.

Posted by Claire @ 02:20 PM CST
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