‘Synthetic’ children speak out

#1076 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 24 May 2015

Earlier this year, Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana sparked a media storm, telling journalists that “you are born to a mother and a father, or at least that’s how it should be.”

They described babies in same sex couple families, born via IVF or surrogacy, as “synthetic,” or formed in “rented wombs” using reproductive material selected from a catalogue.

Their comments prompted an understandable backlash, notably from British singer Elton John, who urged a boycott of the designer label. But some of the “synthetic” kids are speaking out, like Hattie Hart who said:

One of the greatest tragedies of donor conception is the loss of belonging: to family, to a culture …

I now understand the scientific explanations as to why my social father and I … were unable to bond. It is natural for me to desire my [biological] father …

Thank you, Domenico and Stefano, for your bravery.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.