The Guardian 20.05.08 G2 supplement gave a quote from a Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall (some gay rights organisation):
‘They will go to backstreet suppliers, who are often using unscreened sperm … These women will not have children – they’ll just have children through dangerous methods.’
This is in the context that lesbians should be entitled to IVF treatment.
Personally, I wouldn’t pull together the 30 pence it costs for a guardian at the union. As one of the other chaps in the flat believes 30 pence is better spent on the said paper rather than, say, a mars bar, there is generally a few lying around.
This harks back to a time when some were trying to legalise abortion. I do, however, see a fundamentally important difference.
Those wanting abortion, may go to a backstreet clinic as a form of birth control, in order to save themselves the responsibility of a child.
Those wanting IVF treatment should be responsible enough to raise children. If willing to go to a back street clinic for children, that does seem to suggest they are willing to take unknown risks (as Mr Summerskill said ‘dangerous methods’) to get their own way, which I personally cannot see as being responsible in the slightest.
