Editorial
Custody of 'Baby M'
went to right parents
A three-month court battle over custody of Baby M was
put to rest Tuesday when Superior Court Judge Harvey
Sorkow awarded the child to the adoptive parents. It was a
good decision because the Sterns, the adoptive parents,
clearly are more deserving of the child they call Melissa.
It was the nation’s first ruling on surrogate parenting,
and it should come as a victory for adoption advocates and
childless couples who are considering surrogate parenting.
Sorkow upheld the contract signed by Mary Beth
Whitehead, the surrogate mother, and William and
Elizabeth Stern. He stated that "just as men have the con
stitutional right to sell their sperm, women can decide what
to do with their wombs.” Whitehead decided what she was
doing with her womb when she signed a contract on Feb. 6,
1985 agreeing to be a surrogate mother.
Yet Whitehead claimed she did not read the contract un
til the custody battle began and used this argument in an at
tempt to win custody of the child. This was a weak legal
defense at best, and echoes of the cliche that "ignorance is
no excuse."
Moreover. Whitehead's attorneys attempted to sell
Sorkow on the idea that surrogate parenting should be
outlawed because no mother could be expected to give up
her child before conception. Another weak legal defense
that implies women lack resolve when it comes to signing a
surrogate-mother contract. The fact that nearly 500 babies
have been born through surrogate-mother contracts with on
ly a few surrogate mothers reneging on their contracts il
lustrates surrogate parenting is feasible.
But Whitehead had more going against her than merely
a poor legal defense. The judge had learned the Whiteheads
had separated during the 1970s, and that they still face los
ing their home through a mortgage foreclosure. Further
more, it was disclosed Mr. Whitehead has battled
alcoholism and that Mrs. Whitehead, a highschool drop-out,
was once forced to seek employment as a go-go dancer.
It would be unfair to hold this information against the
Whiteheads as people — after all, they’re only human — but
these revelations are serious drawbacks when attempting to
convince a judge one is worthy of being a parent.
Perhaps the most damaging case against Whitehead was
her panicked telephone call from Florida to the Sterns, when
she threatened to kill the baby and herself. She had stated
then, "I’d rather see me and her dead before you (William
Stern) get her."
The Sterns, on the other hand, have proved to be men
tally stable people. Both had shown understandable emo
tions during the many hours of court-room testimony, yet
unlike Mary Beth Whitehead, they demonstrated "an ability
to make rational decisions in the most trying of cir
cumstances," according to Sorkow.
But the Sterns are not the only winners; little Melissa
also is a winner. The year-old child deserved the best home
possible, and the Sterns demonstrated they could provide a
better home life than could the Whiteheads.
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organ donations from relatives
of deceased patients, and he ac
tively opposed the Marijuana
Initiative (apparently you don’t
own your own brain or lungs
either).
Scratch a liberal....
Richard Sharvy
Eugene
Baby boom
Some people question the
morality of advances in fertility
research. Well, any society
which permits 1.5 million abor
tions annually has little right to
pass judgement on technologies
which help create life, and give
people the joy and satisfaciton
of raising children.
What’s wrong with
something like ovum transplan
tation? If a woman unable to
ovulate wants to carry a donated
ovum then that’s totally her
business. All we’re talking
about here is pre-natal
adoption.
Some will say these
technologies are unnatural. So
what? Artificial birth control is
unnatural. And I wonder if
those attempting to question
new technologies on Biblical
grounds are as equally com
mited to attacking birth control
— somthing never mentioned in
a positive light by the
scriptures.
Then there’s folks who will
say that maybe couples having
trouble getting pregnant were
meant to remain childless. Oh
yeah? I wonder if a person with
cancer should avoid seeking ad
vanced madical treatment. I
mean gee, maybe they were
meant to die of cancer.
Adoption is extremely dif
ficult. There’s such a baby shor
tage that a black market has
evolved in which healthy babies
can sell for up to $50,000!
Statements like “try adop
tion” or “learn to live
childless” are not only
simplistic (often reflecting an
uninformed point of view) but
down right cruel.
Lori Parkman
Elmira, OR
TELEVISION EVANGELISTS
Letters
Scenerios
In the ODE on March 10 there
was a newsletter insert from the
Student Health Center (Well
Now — AIDS) dealing with the
subject of AIDS prevention.
In one section (How to Talk
About Sex), fictionalized con
versations between male/female
sex partners appeared.
What the newsletter failed to
print was the obvious problem
with the spread of AIDS —
homosexual partners.
Here is a more likely scenerio.
Two men (John and David).
JOHN: “There is something I
need to tell you. I really like you
a lot and going to bed with you
was great. I feel bad I didn’t
mention this before, but I want
to tell you now. I had sex with
12 different guys last week.
Over the years I’ve bedded
down with hundreds of guys —
we had oral-anal, fisted. . .you
know, the usual. What I’m try
ing to say, David, is there might
be a tiny, little chance I have
AIDS.’’
DAVID: “Really? Well, it’s
not your fault. It’s that damn
Reagan Administration. They
could be allocating more federal
money to find a cure. Thank
goodness AIDS is a political
disease — society will be forced
to accept us. It’s too bad people
with the black plague or
hepatitis didn’t organize like
our gay community and have
the ACLU fighting for
them.. .(cough, cough).”
Dan Goulet
Eugene
Itch to scratch
I can’t remember who said
“Scratch a liberal and you will
find a totalitarian underneath,”
but the thought seems to get
verified over and over again.
The major activities of the
NAACP in recent times have in
cluded attempts to get
“Huckleberry Finn” and “To
Kill a Mockingbird” removed
from libraries and to get a
Baltimore police officer fired for
recreating old A1 Jolson
routines in a night club act
while off duty and on his own
time.
President Olum and large
groups of ‘‘liberal” faculty and
students who would normally
scream bloody murder in
defense of academic freedom if
anybody tried to dictate what
kinds of research could and
could not be done at the Univer
sity are all for prohibiting
research in areas that they
themselves don’t like, such as
national defense.
State Senator Larry Hill, who
represents the area north of 18th
Ave., northeast Eugene, and
Springfield, and who is a cer
tified liberal” supporting
things like comparable worth,
fair share tax shift schemes
and so forth, has introduced a
bill that would punish anyone
entering into a surrogate
mothering contract with five
years in prision.
It’s “immoral,” he says. Ap
parently a woman doesn’t own
her own uterus after all.
Hill seems to have a peculiar
fetish about bodily organs. He
pushed through a bill two years
ago to force hospitals to request