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#9 – A quick look into freedom

Posted on November 5, 2019November 5, 2019 by Epanemu

Freedom is a great thing. A thing we all desire. It is in human nature. But too much of anything is bad. Especially when we don’t know the potential consequences.

I don’t think I am against assisted reproduction, and I certainly am not against legalization of abortions. Yet I find it difficult to ignore the possible outcomes that await society, when given the means of controlling our natural reproduction.

It is easy to say that it does no harm. And whilst that might be true, I am not that certain. There is no problem with making abortions and methods of assisted reproduction legal, the problem is in the message it gives to the society. When harm has been done to a woman, she should not have to go into illegality to get rid of a potential child. But I believe it is harmful to simply accept abortion as a way out. Or think of assisted reproduction as a normal, good (or even better) alternative.

Why do I bother? I am not a woman, this will never be my primary concern. I bother because it gives our society a new mindset. And I am afraid that new does not mean better in this case. From normality of abortions, we get normality of any form of sexual activity. Young women might feel like it is normal, like it is no big deal, since it is legal. But it is not uncommon, that abortion of a child even if without physical complications, creates psychological issues. And this does not concern only women. If men consider abortion a good solution, they will care less about consequences of their actions.

But this discussion is already in past. Thus I should explain the issue with assisted reproduction. Not only it enables potentially dangerous genome editing, it will, when considered usual, make it normal. And even though I would welcome any breakthrough in AI, I fear greatly what genetically enhanced people might do. Even without gene editing, the process of “manufacturing” a baby will lead to emotional disconnection from the mother (and especially father) which will inherently break up the core fabric of our society.

Also, just as we agree that people should not be sold, we should agree that human eggs should not be sold either. Just as other human products, like blood, bone marrow or organs. Because even capitalism has to have limits. At least if ethical behavior is desired in our society.

I am not a psychologist nor a sociologist. But I am a logician, and those are the conclusions, which, I fear, might not be entirely off.

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