Adoption, Facebook, and Incest...

Not the usual cheery topic like the topics of late. However, I was doing my daily rounds of the news and came across this story. It was disturbing, it was sad, and it was plain scary. It is also one of those stories that I read and find myself shaking my head and saying to myself, "What were you thinking?" There was probably some expletives in there as adjectives to enhance my disbelief.

The story is one of a young pregnant mother. The mother gives birth to a healthy baby boy who she then gives up for adoption. Now, if the story ended there then there would not be anything particularly interesting about that. However, the story gets a little disturbing from here on in. Some 14 years later the mother, Aimee L Sword decides to track down her biological son. Her method of choice the internet and, in particular, Facebook. Sword makes contact with her biological son and then grooms him for sex. She then has sex with the boy.

Now, I need to get a hold of the facts of the case. However, I am going to take a stab in the dark here and guess that she did not tell the boy that she was in fact his biological mother. The boy testified that they had sex on a number of occasions when he was just 14 years old.

The Detroit Free Press has reported that Sword's lawyer, Mitchell Ribitwer, stated the following about his client "When she saw this boy, something just touched off in her — and it wasn't a mother-son relationship, it was a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship".He then went on to say, "Aimee's searching for a reason why this happened. She can't understand it. She's going to get some counseling."

Not only is she going to get some counselling, she has been given plenty of time to think her actions over with a sentence of at least 9 years to be served.

The other interesting point is that she used Facebook to track this boy down. Facebook is an incredible networking tool that can be used for good and evil. This highlights the negative power of social networking.

As I said, what was she thinking? I really cannot fathom what would have triggered such a desire to track down your own biological child and then groom them for sex. I am still shaking my head!

The Dangers of Drinking

You ever wondered what you got up to after polishing off that bottle of Jack Daniel's. Tennessee Whiskey will get you every time!

Well, wonder no more!

Down Syndrome and Incest

It seems that Channel Seven in Australia has caused a bit of furore as one of its programs, All Saints -- a medical drama, has suggested that there is a causal link between incest and down syndrome. This apparently went so far as to allude to the fact that all children of incestuous relationships were likely to be down syndrome. I must confess I have not watched the program and I am merely commenting on the reports I have read. I get to watch All Saints in Jakarta on Australia Network if I want to and I have to say I have not watched an episode yet.

I am also not a medical doctor. So I had to research a little about down syndrome before I felt comfortable commenting in any way, shape, or form.

From my very brief amount of research I have found that down syndrome is a chromosomal error. Simply, you are supposed to have 46 chromosomes, 23 from your mother and 23 from your father. however, somewhere in the miracle of life you end up with 47 and you are then categorized as being down syndrome. There is nothing to suggest that incest plays a role in promoting this error in chromosomes to occur.

If this is in fact the case, I am surprised that a show dealing with medicine and by all accounts employing a consultant doctor would allow this kind of assertion to enter into the mainstream.

It is already being reported that children with down syndrome and their siblings are being taunted and bullied as being inbred. This is sad!

I have know a few down syndrome kids in my life, not many, but I have always found them to be great company, to be fun, and to be so much more giving than those of us who have been "lucky" enough to get 46 and not 47 chromosomes. I have learned much more from those friendships and acquaintances than I think they have ever learned from me.

If Channel Seven has aired what it is alleged to have aired then it needs to do something about it. This is a backward step and reverses the great amount of good work done by down syndrome advocates over many years. And for what? Ratings?

People with down syndrome are still people! They can and do live productive lives and in many cases more productive lives than those of us who have not been born with the same challenges.

Just another RAB rant! No apologies though! The picture above is a screen capture from the offending episode! I am not an expert on own syndrome or on television ethics, so this is just me expressing my opinion (and I have many)! Criticism, constructive preferred, is always welcome!

IVF & Incest

A story from the Sydney Morning Herald caught my eye, surprising because after my morning swim my eyes are red and watering (that's because men don't cry their eyes just water), oh yeah, the story!

After reading the title "Unwitting incest" and the politically incorrect and morally questionable jokes of my youth such as incest being a game the whole family can play, the story really is a tragedy. It is too bad that I am not a statistician or some kind of mathematical genius in order to work out what the odds are that twins separated at birth and raised by different families would run into each other, fall in love, and get married! I would guess that this is remote.

It seems this remote case is being used to ensure that the names of biological parents in in-vitro fertilization (IVF) programs are recorded on birth certificates. One of the features of IVF has always been that the donors could be anonymous if that was what was wanted. The other issue worth considering is that many people donate because their identity is not revealed. If identities are to be revealed potential donors are going to think long and hard before donating their genetic material. This is particularly the case now where biological parents of children are being sued for material and financial support for children that they never intended supporting.

It would be possible to have a complete medical history of donors without ever having to release their names. Yet, this is lost in the emotion. The debate is no doubt going to be heated but is the remote possibility that tragedies like this will unfold in the future sufficient to see a shift in public policy from protecting the identity of the donors to making it compulsory for all donors to be named?