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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2009 > March > 04 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBill would prohibit octuplet mother scenario in Georgia
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A bill intended to make sure Georgia never has a mother like the Californian who recently gave birth to eight children is scheduled to come before a Senate committee today.
Senate Bill 169 would limit the number of embryos fertility clinics may implant in a woman. It could be among the first legislation of its kind in the nation, said bill sponsor Sen. Ralph Hudgens (R-Hull).
Hudgens said he proposed the bill after reading of Nadya Suleman’s decision to have multiple children through in-vitro fertilization when she already had six children and was on public assistance.
“I think it’s totally immoral,” Hudgens said of “I think the doctor ought to be prosecuted, and the woman should give them [the children] up for adoption.”
The bill has drawn opposition from out-of-state advocacy groups, including a Virginia organization that sought to rally opposition to the bill Wednesday by e-mail.
The McLean, Va.-based Resolve: the National Infertility Association argues SB 169 would make it much harder for infertile women to have children by limiting the number of embryos that could be implanted.
The proposal was drafted by the Arizona-based Bioethics Defense Fund, which opposes embryonic stem cell research, abortion, human cloning and assisted suicide.
It also has drawn opposition from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and Georgia supporters of abortion rights who argue that the bill is a back-door attempt to outlaw abortion.
A key reason is because the bill defines embryos conceived outside the womb as “biological human beings.”
Chad Smith, a former Snellville city councilman and father of three, said that under the proposal, his wife would have been barred from having the four embryos implanted that gave the couple their triplets.
“It’s government getting into personal lives,” Smith said. “These bills take all decisions out of the hands of the doctors. The bills are incredibly irresponsible and uneducated bills.”
Under Hudgens’ bill, women older than 40 would be limited to three embryonic implants. Women younger than 40 would be limited to two.
The bill would also limit creation of embryos to the number that would be implanted at any one time. Hudgens said this would eliminate the creation of multiple embryos that are then frozen.
Hudgens said he wants to prevent disputes between ex-husbands and ex-wives over what to do with left-over frozen embryos.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Legislature
Comments
By Jai
March 5, 2009 12:00 PM | Link to this
I don’t think it should be the government’s decision on how many embryos a woman can have planted into her uterus. They should leave this issue with the medical community and families.