FamilyLife Culture Watch

Birth pains, new millenium style

Back in the olden days, the scenario was pretty standard. A young man and young woman, probably from the same town, met, fell in love and got married (presumably for life) and started a family. If they couldn't have children, they generally remained childless.

Imagine, then going back in time to try to explain to one of these couples the current dilemma facing Baby Manjhi Yamada. Modern childbirth alternatives are becoming so complex that one wonders if we are causing more problems than we are preventing:

A while back Ikufumi Yamada and his wife, Yuki, got married in Japan. But they found they couldn't have children. So after some online searching they found they could fly to India, Mr. Yamadi could donate sperm, a stranger could donate an egg, and a surrogate mother could donate her womb, all the time planning to give the baby up upon delivery at the hospital.

Well, the best laid plans of man and science often go wacko. As it turns out, the Yamadas didn't count on falling out of love. When they split up, the ex-Mrs. Yamada bailed. In fact, none of the child's three mothers wanted her. Mr. Yamada still did, but Japanese law considers a single man an unfit parent, even if he is the biological father.

So here lies poor Baby Manjhi in the hospital, just two weeks old and looking like she will become the world's first orphan without four parents. But there still might be a reasonably happy ending. On Tuesday, the Indian government issued Manjhi a birth certificate bearing the name of her natural father. Word is that she will be eligible for a passport soon back to Japan.

In the meantime, the child is being wetnursed by the wife of Dr. Yamada's friend. The couple had a baby just last week... the old-fashioned way.

"A Young Man With a Future Instead of a Past"

Sometimes you find a family story in an unexpected place. An article in today's Los Angeles Times tells about Aundre Dean, a celebrated high school running back in Katy, Tex., who signed with UCLA on Wednesday. Sports reporter Chris Foster writes of a classic "rags to riches" story:

He never knew his father. He remembers his mother leaving when he was a kid, but little else. The age of his youngest sister is a guess to him.

Yet, Dean almost giddily talks about being blessed, a young man with a future instead of a past.

The turning point for Aundre came when the principal of his elementary school took an interest in him. First, she made sure he got to school every day. Then she brought his situation to the attention of her cousin, Jennifer Dean, and Jennifer's husband Michael. The Deans decided to adopt Aundre.

It was quite an adjustment for Aundre to live in a normal home, with normal parents:

"I was rebellious and got into trouble at first," Dean said. "I wanted to do my own thing. I was so used to doing my own thing. But they took care of me.

"I had to clean my room. I had to do chores. I had to get good grades. I was doing things normal kids did. I had never had that before. Once I learned to trust them, everything turned around."

This is the type of story I love-a story about the power of a family.

Around the World in 80 Words #9

GUATEMALA - New adoption laws will prefer first family preservation, relative adoption, then domestic adoption. Some fear it will backfire, virtually eliminating adoption by U.S. couples, which have provided homes to more than 25,000 Guatemalan kids.

CHINA - Officials in Hubei province have expelled 500 people from the Communist party for violation the nation's one-child policy.

CUBA - Divorce is rampant, with six breakups for every 10 marriages. But because of limited government-controlled housing, divorce couples often live together for years.

Bella: All the Right Messages

Whether it receives any more critical acclaim when it opens nationwide in theaters this Friday, October 26, the film "Bella" has done a lot of things right. I'm not necessarily talking about awards, although it did win the top prize at last year's prestigious Toronto International Film Festival and this year's Heartland Film Festival.

The main thing that "Bella" has done right is to bring to the big screen a great message of hope, redemption and the value of every life, and to do so in a way that's not preachy or hokey. In fact, its presentation is a great deal of its appeal: a story dealing with real life issues that generates real audience emotions. And it's a true quality production.

The messages and themes of "Bella" are wholesome and biblical: the importance of family, the value of life, at recognizing personal suffering as an opportunity to recognize suffering in others and to meet their needs (2 Cor. 1:3-4).

The plot of "Bella" is quite simple.  Jose (played by Eduardo Verastegui), a reclusive waiter working at his family’s Mexican restaurant, sees fellow employee Nina (Tammy Blanchard) fired from her waitress job for repeated tardiness. Recognizing her crisis and sensing that he might be able to help her through a very difficult situation in her life (she also reveals to him that she is pregnant), Jose goes AWOL from work to spend the day with Nina. As he helps her work through her problems, Jose is able to admit dark secrets from his own enigmatic past, bringing life and redemption to both of them.

Black Market Baby Factories

It reads like one of the clandestine eugenics experiments of Nazi Germany. But this story is from modern day Greece, and may be happening worldwide. Chilling.

The Baby Factory is run with brutal efficiency. As soon as an order has been placed, a woman is chosen to produce a baby. Only the beautiful girls are selected to join the production line.

The customers will, the owners of the factory know all too well, pay a higher price for an angelic-looking baby. The blue-eyed ones are particularly prized.

The woman is impregnated by mafia racketeers and then looked after, housed, fed and clothed for the next nine months.

She does not give birth in hospital in case someone asks too many questions. Rather, she has the baby in a makeshift maternity suite - a room in a house rented by the factory for the purpose.

A trained midwife in the pay of the factory is on hand to ensure a safe delivery. There is, after all, a lot of money at stake. Up to £20,000, in fact.

This article originally ran in late 2006 in the London Daily Mail, but we became aware of it just this week through one of our favorite sites, the Family Scholars Blog. This is one of several blog posts indicating that the impregnation of women (forced or coerced) and black market selling of children (for adoption or sex trade) is now a worldwide issue.