House of Horror mastermind Tania Staker jailed for 10 years | Courier Mail

You have to wonder why no Government agency uncovered this horror earlier. Twenty people living in one house and nobody thinks that maybe something is not right?

A WOMAN who masterminded a cruel regime of starvation "beyond comprehension" and fuelled by jealousy has been jailed for 10 years.

Today, the Supreme Court in Adelaide jailed Tania Marie Staker, 36, for her role in the neglect of five children at a northern suburbs house between February and June 2008.

Three men - the children's father Luke Armistead, 38, Michael Quinlivan, 27, and Robert Armistead, 41 - were each sentenced to nine years in prison.

In sentencing, Justice Kevin Duggan said each of the adults had inflicted a daily routine of punishment "beyond comprehension" on the five siblings.

"It reached a point where the children were made to stand against a wall without moving ... they were made to stand in the same position from morning until night."

Each of the children were beaten, starved, choked and fed only the scraps left over after the other 21 children in the house had eaten a share of hot chips or noodles.

Continue reading House of Horror mastermind Tania Staker jailed for 10 years | Courier Mail

Abortionist charged with murder

by Sheila Liaugminas | 27 Jan 2011

Jarring headline. Not that abortion doesn’t take human life every day. But startling to see that law enforcement and media actually noticed.

It took a particularly gruesome example to get their attention.

Continue reading Abortionist charged with murder at MercatorNet.com

Abduction, identity and donor babies

Most media miss the obvious

Carolyn Moynihan | 24 Jan 2011

The story of Carlina White, the American woman who was abducted as a baby and has only just found her mother and her own identity, has made world headlines. But how many journalists are drawing the obvious moral of the story: kids need to know who they are.
Right now, babies are being concocted in laboratories around the world from the ova and/or sperm of anonymous donors and in some cases carried to birth by surrogate mothers -- all to satisfy the desires of adults to have a child. Their successes will be written up with sentimental approval.
Continue reading Abduction, identity and donor babies at MercatorNet.com

Couple aborts twin boys for girl | Herald Sun

“It’s All About Me.” More disgusting behaviour from supporters of abortion and IVF.

January 08, 2011

A COUPLE so desperate for a baby girl that they terminated twin boys are fighting to choose the sex of their next child.

The couple, who have three sons and still grieve for a daughter they lost soon after birth, are going to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to win the right to select sex by IVF treatment.
They say they want the opportunity to have the baby daughter they were tragically denied.
An independent panel, known as the Patient Review Panel, recently rejected the couple's bid to choose the sex of their next child using IVF.
They have gone to VCAT in a bid to have that decision overturned.

Continue reading Couple aborts twin boys for girl | Herald Sun

Stupidity and Artificial Reproduction hold hands again.

Anger at IVF treatment for jailed terrorist couple – Courier Mail

2nd October 2010

SPANIARDS have reacted with fury to the news that two convicted Eta terrorists are undergoing IVF treatment in prison at the State's expense.

Fernando Garcia Jodra, 40, and his girlfriend Nerea Bengoa Zarisolo, 39, are hoping to become parents despite the fact that both have been condemned to minimum jail terms of 30 years after being found guilty in 2004 of four murders.

They are held in separate prisons and are not allowed physical contact, communicating only by letters, which are checked and censored. It is their right, however, under Spanish law, to apply to have IVF treatment in jail.

Continue reading Anger at IVF treatment for jailed terrorist couple | Courier Mail

Daddy Was Only a Sperm Donor: A Troubling Report on Children Conceived by Single Mothers Who Chose Insemination. - WSJ.com

By Bradford Wilcox 

18th June 2010, The Wall Street Journal.

Seventy-one percent of the adult offspring of these single mothers agree that: "My sperm donor is half of who I am," and 78% wonder "what my sperm donor's family is like." Half report that they "feel sad" when they see "friends with their biological fathers and mothers." Donor offspring with single mothers also are much less likely to report that they can rely on their family. Fifty-six percent of these offspring said they depend more on friends than on family, compared to just 29% of young adults born to two biological parents.

Read in full at The Wall Street Journal.

Are Sperm Donors Just Glorified Dead Beat Dads?

With the recent passing of legislation in Queensland that further liberalises artificial reproduction, the issue of using donor sperm/ova to produce other human beings needs to be discussed again.

Michael Cook at MercatorNet raises the issue again: Is it high-tech child abuse to rob children of their biological heritage?