November 18, 2005--Fanaticisms IX--The Political Economy of Sperm

In our brave new world, how would you think about the following questions that were posed in a recent NY Times article (see link)—

If a husband does not want his wife to have an abortion but she wants to, does he have the legal right to stop it?

In a second situation, a married couple arranged to have one of her eggs fertilized by his sperm. That couple is now divorced. The ex-wife wants to become pregnant by having the embryo implanted in her womb. The ex-husband does not want her to do this. Does he have legal recourse?

If you said “No” in the first instance and “Almost always yes” in the second, you are a qualified candidate to be nominated to the Supreme Court--that is if Judge Alito doesn’t get confirmed--because that is the current “Law of the Land.” Of course only until you, as the swing vote, join a majority to overturn one or the other.

The Casey decision (where the Supreme Court overturned a decision of Judge Alito’s) affirmed that a husband does not have the right to stop his wife’s abortion; that decision is left entirely up to her. The SC ruling effectively said that the embryo, because it is in a woman’s body, cannot be thought of as separate from her, and thus it is solely her right to decide whether or not to bring that embryo to term.

Regarding the frozen version of embryo, since it is not a part of the ex-wife’s body, but is in a flask in a lab freezer, it does not involve her “physical integrity.” Thus, the sperm supplier has a say because not to have a legal right in the matter is a “violation of [his] parenthood” (I almost wrote "manhood").

It can get more complicated—A Massachusetts court in 2000 ruled that even if a couple signed a contract specifying what could be done with their leftover embryos, for example donate or sell them, if either party changes their mind the contract would no longer be valid because to hold them to it would force them "to become a parent in circumstances where they [now] object.”

It can get still more complicated—If somehow a frozen embryo (or life if you prefer) gets implanted in some womb and a child is produced, do either the biological father and/or mother have any legal obligation to provide 18 years of child support?? (College tuition is a whole other conversation.)

It can get yet, even, still more complicated--What will happen when technology takes a few more steps forward to where we can arrange to have men become pregnant—trust me, this is not biologically impossible—or if we develop artificial incubators or if we move ahead with cloning humans and not just sheep??

Oy vey.