This Dangerous Bill Aims To Redefine Parenting

Within the last ten years, our nation has undergone sweeping change in regard to identity, the family, and disregard for the Constitution and the values America was founded on.

From the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legalize homosexual marriage, to the development of “transgenders” as a protected class of citizens with special rights not afforded to the rest of us, the traditional family seems to be crumbling beyond repair under a liberal agenda perpetuated by politicians.

Now, a dangerous new bill has been introduced in Washington State, and if it passes, will likely be adopted by other state legislatures.  The so-called “Uniform Parentage Act” (SB 6037) sounds like some sort of protection for parental rights – but it is one more nail in the coffin for the future of our children.

LifeSite News reported:

In the committee hearing for Washington State’s Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) which will legalize commercial surrogacy, award parental rights to any adult(s) who can acquire a child through reproductive technologies, and make parenthood gender neutral, the bill’s sponsor stated what traditional marriage supporters have known all along: “redefining marriage redefines parenthood.”

Got that? When husbands and wives are optional in marriage policy, mothers and fathers become optional in parenting policy. Post-gay marriage, a law that recognizes both mothers and fathers as necessary to children is unconstitutional.  Looks like Washington State will follow in the footsteps of other nations which have sacrificed the rights of children on the pyre of adult desires.

This frightening bill attempts to rid the world of the very idea of children having a mother and father, trampling on the rights of innocent children because adults who want to live alternative lifestyles feel their needs come first.

The traditional family has sadly been crumbling for years under the weight of a skyrocketing divorce rate, and the issues created in its wake like poverty and overworked single parents.  Children are looked upon as a “right,” instead of a blessing as the fertility industry booms.  And the murder of the unborn in the name of “convenience” continues unchecked.

This new bill will strip children of even more of their basic rights, like the need for a mother and father.  Much like the push by liberals to erase the terms “husband” and “wife” from the definition of marriage, “mother” and “father” will be an idea of the past if this bill passes.

Them Before Us reported:

When it comes to family, children have universally-recognized rights. At the very top of the list; children have a natural right to a relationship with both biological parents whenever possible. When these rights are respected and children are raised and loved by both biological parents, it maximizes their chances for a physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy life.  Child Trends reports, “…it is not simply the presence of two parents, as some have assumed, but the presence of two biological parents that seems to support children’s development.”  

What happens when a child’s right to their mother and father is ignored?  SB 6037 shows us – children are objectified and put at risk. They become commodities that can be cut and pasted into any adult arrangement. Maybe one parent, or two or three or maybe more. Men and/or women. Married or unmarried. Genetically related or genetic strangers. Living or dead.  According to SB 6037, deceased unrelated adults who the child has never met but who “intended” to parent prior to their death, can be recognized as a child’s “parent.”  

By replacing “biology with intent,” adults who purchase donated or abandoned embryos through fertility clinics or contract a surrogate to have a child will have their “parental” rights put ahead of the best needs of the child, regardless of the lack of a biological relationship – the bill grants parental authority to any adult who intends to parent through reproductive technologies.

Parental rights expert Melissa Moschella tells Them Before Us:

The relationship between children and their biological parents is intimate, permanent, and identity-constituting. It defines the biological aspect of the child’s identity—for if the child had different biological parents, he would not be the same person; indeed he would not exist at all…the unique, irreplaceable intimacy of the parent-child relationship manifests itself in the fact that a child can miss the specific love and care of an absent biological parent, even when he is well-loved…

While it is sometimes impossible to be raised by both biological parents, those situations are tragic for children and they should never be intentionally replicated through reproductive technologies. Further, to have such grievous circumstances normalized, encouraged or incentivised by government is appalling.  

One of the most shocking provisions in SB 6037, is the section on genetic surrogacy.  A genetic surrogate is a woman pregnant with her own biological child. A child that she can legally sell if she is in possession of a surrogacy contract signed prior to conception.

Even if the child is born to a gestational surrogate (non-genetic mother), that woman is still the only parent that the child knows.  It’s her voice, her smell, her body that the baby craves.  Separation from that mother, regardless of the genetic connection, is traumatic for babies.  In any other circumstance, the separation of children from their mothers rightly elicits a response of outrage or grief.  Yet when we are shown pictures of children with their “intended parents” after they’ve been lifted from their surrogate mother’s body, we are supposed to celebrate.

Opponents of the bill include adults who were conceived by fertility treatments or carried by surrogate mothers.  Many of them strongly object to furthering the practice of “purchasing genetic material” from one or both biological parents.

They state that these practices “manufacture” children who never know their heritage or genetic background.  They may not have vital medical information, may feel they don’t belong in the family unit or be deprived relationships with biological siblings or other family members.

Many of these now-grown children express feelings of struggling with their identities, strained home lives, and depression, anxiety, or drug use.  And experts warn these issues are likely to be worse for children raised by homosexual couples.  In fact, the very language of the bill is created to erase any mention of a female mother and male father.

Them Before Us continued:

Biology-based parenting views children as vulnerable humans with rights and around whom adults should orient their lives.  The intent-based parenthood outlined in SB 6037 treats children as commodities which can be legally swapped and traded, cut and pasted into any and every conceivable adult arrangement.  And statistically, no other “arrangement” offers children the level of benefits- or the biological identity- that being raised in the home of both biological parents will.

None of this is to say that couples who raise children born through fertility treatments or surrogacy are not loved and wanted by those who raise them, and adoption continues to save the lives of children who may have otherwise been aborted.  However, ignoring the ethical issues brought up in this bill will set a dangerous precedent if it becomes law.

Liberals have been arguing against the reality of biological gender for years, and now the biology of genetics and parenting are set to be erased.  Anyone who wants a child can purchase a child like any other commodity, further deteriorating families and causing a tidal wave of problems for future generations.

What do you think of this new legislation?  Do you feel children’s God-given rights are being violated?  Leave us your thoughts.