Internet forum reveals psychological scars of IVF children
January 27, 2011
Children born through in vitro fertilization and other advanced reproductive technologies often feel pain and resentment about their experiences, a new internet forum reveals.
Discussing their shared experiences, many children who were conceived using donated sperm or eggs show a keen interest in knowing the identity of the donors whose genes they carry. IVF practitioners do not provide that information, and have strongly resisted any move toward disclosure.
One woman participating in the forum expressed her frustrations in terms that vindicate the Vatican's warnings against artificial reproduction:
I am a human being, yet I was conceived with a technique that had its origins in animal husbandry. Worst of all, farmers kept better records of their cattle's genealogy than assisted reproductive clinics had kept for the donor conceived people of my era. It also made me feel strange to think that my genes were spliced together from two people who were never in love, never danced together, had never even met one another.
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Asia Bibi moved to isolation cellJanuary 27, 2011
Asia Bibi, the 45-year-old Christian mother of five whose death sentence on blasphemy charges has provoked an international outcry, has been moved to an isolation cell in her Pakistani prison for her own protection. Her husband, Ashiq Masih, told the Fides news agency that two guards watch her cell constantly and that she is being given raw food to decrease the risk of being poisoned.
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- Asia Bibi in isolation cell (Fides)
- Pakistani court: No pardon for Christian woman sentenced to death (CWN, 12/1)
January 27, 2011
Motivated by fear and better economic prospects, at least 20 Pakistani Christians are converting to Islam each week. In recent weeks, a leading Muslim politician who called for modifications to the nation's blasphemy law was gunned down, and thousands marched through the street of Lahore, Pakistan's second-largest city, chanting, "Death to Christians and the friends of Christians."
"People have no faith in the police or justice system, and the kind of fear that exists now was never there before," says Peter Jacob, a prominent lay Catholics.
"No one feels safe right now," adds Nadeem Anthony, a Christian and a member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. "People are scared."
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