All right, yes, the title of this post does overstate the case a little.
But only a little.
An interim legislative committee is considering a bill that would prohibit gays, lesbians and single people in Indiana from using medical science to assist them in having a child.
Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, said the state does not regulate assisted reproduction but should have requirements similar to its adoption requirements. Miller is chairwoman of the Health Finance Commission, a panel of lawmakers that will vote Oct. 20 on whether to recommend the legislation to the full General Assembly.
The bill defines assisted reproduction as causing pregnancy by means other than sexual intercourse, including intrauterine insemination, donation of an egg, donation of an embryo, in vitro fertilization and transfer of an embryo, and sperm injection. It would require "intended parents" to be married to each other and says a single person may not be an intended parent.
"If we're going to try to put Indiana on the map, I wouldn't go this route," said Betty Cockrum, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Indiana. "It feels pretty chilling. It is governmental intrusion into a very private part of our lives." Miller acknowledged that the legislation would be "enormously controversial."
Under the proposal, a doctor could not begin an assisted reproduction technology procedure that might result in a child being born until the intended parents had received a satisfactory assessment. The assessment is similar to what is required for infant adoption and would be conducted by a licensed child-placing agency in Indiana. The required information includes the fertility history of the parents, education and employment information, personality descriptions, verification of marital status, child-care plans and criminal history checks. A description of the family lifestyle of the intended parents also would be required, including participation in faith-based or church activities. The bill does not apply to assisted-reproduction cases in which the child is the genetic child of both of the intended parents: for example, if the sperm is from the father and the egg is from the mother. But married couples who need donor sperm or eggs would have to go through an assessment process and establish parentage in a court...
So let me get this straight-ish: the proposal will require the state to regulate, for single and infertile married people only, their desire to become parents. Single people would be outright barred from using a process which the state neither insures nor pays for in any way, shape or form. As for married people, the state would then evaluate their fitness to become parents, based in part on a criteria that the state is expressly forbidden by the US Constitution -- their participation in religious or faith-based activities -- from considering. In the meantime, married heterosexual people who don't need technological assistance -- who, one might point out, far exceed in number everyone else -- can have children and be absolutely wretched parents, all with the state's tacit blessing.
...Well, all-righty, then! Glad to have that cleared up!
One wonders if one of the legislators of that state will point out to the bill's sponsors that not only is this an egregious violation of rights to privacy and liberty, but that Indiana is not yet an independent theocracy, and that perhaps they should just let this issue go. (Honestly, I would expect the bill to die in committee ... but then, I would never have expected sane legislators to propose such a damnfool law.)
Posted by iain at October 05, 2005 11:47 AM
