Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Babies: willing buyers and willing sellers

Ethics aside, it can be legal or illegal, depending on which country you are in...

Cheng just forwarded this link...

Dutch News:
Suspended jail terms for couple who bought baby on the internet
Thursday 14 July 2011

Some people have made it into a lucrative business by being middlemen between couples or pregnant women with unwanted pregnancies and couples looking for babies; or even employing some women willing to be surrogate mothers with the mutual intention of selling the babies.

It so happened this subject was mentioned at a recent birthday dinner. There was a case of a man in his fifties who liked the pregnant woman enough to offer her a hand in marriage. I questioned whether he had ulterior motive under the pretext of looking for a baby, because why would a man at that age want a baby? He is likely to be a married man looking for a second wife.
As it happened a couple of years ago, we did not know the actual circumstances.

In Malaysia, strict Muslim laws have created many cases of unwanted babies left to die because the unwed mothers are likely to be penalised if found out. Non-Muslims under similar circumstances seem to have the option of having the baby adopted or even sold, secretly as it is illegal. Enforcement of the Muslim law against 'khalwat' or close proximity between a man and a woman who are not married to each other, had even led to several cases of deaths while trying to escape from the enforcement officers! It is one thing to have strict laws but whether enforcement can be effective is a different matter.
Link

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