Friday, November 21, 2008

Surrogacy

Drudge has a piece on regarding surrogate mothers and egg donors.

I believe that the future of human demographics will be highly influenced by modern maternal medical technologies, introduced after WWII. Eugenics were practiced in the US prior to WWII, and went out of official practice with Hitler.

There is a strong case, in my opinion, for eugenics. I justify this in that I believe than one of mankind’s jobs should be to minimize human suffering. Creating a next generation that has fewer diseases and deformations can lead to greater overall happiness, if done responsibly. There are US Supreme Court rulings on the books to this effect.

State

I also recognize the potential, or even inevitability, of abuse. If the Spartans, or the Romans, or Mohammed, or Hitler, had the technology to reproduce model Citizens using the bodies of enslaved prisoners, there is no doubt in my mind that they would of. Raping and pillaging is a less efficient method to spread DNA than pillaging and implanting.

The world is about to go through a rough spell, and rough spells give rise to powerful executives with the authority to do what they see is in the best interest of the State. Citizens with robust DNA benefit the State.

Profit

Beyond the interest of the State, there is the interest of profit. This ABC piece places the cost of a white baby at $27,000-$35,000, and the cost of an egg donation is reportedly $7,000. I’ll assume that an egg donor donates, say, ten eggs. As much as our better angels would like to think otherwise, life really can be cheap. Afghani girls are sold for hundreds of dollars. The surrogacy fee in India is less than $5,000 for a low-caste female.

If a generic white baby, from unknown parents, goes for $30,000; an attractive, smart, athletic, ‘designer’ baby, perhaps doped with the adopting parents' DNA, would probably go for six figures. The profit is there for the person who chooses to offer the service. Which means that it is probably already happening.

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