From time to time, we humans like to think we can play God without any consequences. It’s a troubling trend that seems to be growing in frequency lately as our scientific acumen increases. Regardless of the often disastrous results, it seems we can’t quite figure out how futile it is to try to re-write the laws of nature and nature’s God.
 
For example, restricting reproduction…
 
The failed philosophy of communism will never lead to the universal utopia it pretends to because it attempts to change the very nature of humans; imposing state-control over every aspect of life, cradle-to-grave. Actually, in the case of Communist China – “pre-cradle” – by limiting the number of children to one per family.
 
 
But now, after more than three decades, reality is forcing the regime to make adjustments in their totalitarian policy (They’ve only replaced it with a two-child limit, but at least it’s a concession). Even National Geographic (in a refreshingly sincere article) admits; “How China’s One-Child Policy Backfired Disastrously” ~

The reason China is doing this right now is because they have too many men, too many old people, and too few young people. They have this huge crushing demographic crisis as a result of the one-child policy. And if people don’t start having more children, they’re going to have a vastly diminished workforce to support a huge aging population. Right now the ratio is about five working adults supporting one retiree. That’s why they have ended a policy that should actually never have been started in the first place.

 
While the China story was widely reported by the mainstream media, you probably won’t hear from them about the end of the stem cell wars – and who won.
 
Ten years ago, battles over adult stem cells vs. embryonic stem cells were raging. Adult stem cells were the only ones showing promising research results, but the Planned Parenthood pushers were tenacious ~

… from 2002 to 2008 they barnstormed, fibbed, exaggerated, hyped, and caricatured to get government funding so that they could play God with human embryos. It was a brutal battle in which truth came second. “People need a fairy tale,” said Ronald D.G. McKay, a leading stem cell scientist, in 2004 […]
 
Foes of embryo research were called troglodytes and religious fundamentalists; they were frauds waging war on genuine science. Their scientific credentials were questioned. They were accused of being callous and indifferent to the suffering of patients with chronic illness.
 
And yet they were right. Not one person has been cured with embryonic stem cells. Not one.

 
And now, as Michael Cook at MercatorNet reports, the debate is officially over ~

… in the concluding act of the stem cell wars, a paper in Nature Biotechnology has suggested that iPS(adult) cells and hES(embryonic) cells are functionally equivalent – effectively meaning that there is no need to destroy embryos either for research or for therapies. If it is true – and it needs to be confirmed by other researchers – it is the stem cell equivalent of receiving the surrender of the last Japanese soldier on some remote island in the Philippines.

One more reason – as if we needed any – to defund Planned Parenthood.
 
 
Another brave new world territory of human reproduction that’s proving to be troubling is surrogacy. Recent stories illustrate the “dark side” of the practice.

 
As the Stream reported last month, an Idaho woman carrying surrogate twins (her third surrogacy pregnancy) died on October 8th as the result of…

… an amniotic fluid embolism just days before she was going to deliver twins via cesarean. The children did not survive either.

 
Jennifer Lahl, president of Center for Bioethics and Culture discussed the sad case with Heather Zeiger ~

The surrogacy industry downplays the extent of the the physical, emotional and psychological problems with surrogacy, as well as the extent of abuse, negligence and death. Just in the two days since Brown’s story come out, Lahl told me, she has been contacted by three former surrogates who all experienced medical complications during their surrogacy and were treated “more like a breeder” than a patient. Lahl, who has talked with many surrogates over the last few years about the abuses they have had to endure, points out that most surrogates are not told of the added risks when carrying embryos made from donor eggs.

 
Furthermore, the emotional costs to the babies themselves are being completely disregarded. As “Supressing the truth about surrogacy” from To the Source explains, the bond between mother and child begins almost from the moment of conception ~

The whole new field of epigenetics proves that this nine-month time in the womb plays an important part in the child’s later health, sense of identity, and connection. Annie Murphy Paul’s new book, “Origins: How the Nine Months before Birth Shape the Rest of our Lives”, addresses maternal programming and the lasting impact the intrauterine environment has on the child. This flies in the face of Hollywood’s attempt to gloss over complex realities with simplistic explanations that refer to a woman’s womb as an “easy-bake oven” and children of surrogates as “cupcakes.”

 
Whether it’s preventing babies from being born, using aborted babies to “advance medicine” or planting fertilized eggs in substitute mothers, how much physical, emotional and spiritual damage do we need to inflict before we stop trying to alter God’s blueprint for human reproduction?
 
When we ever learn that no matter how often human beings attempt to alter it, His reality always wins in the end?

 
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Related:
China’s Barbaric Population Control Must End!
ADULT Stem Cells Still Winning the Race – by a Mile