Support baby Joel

Thank God for baby Joel. Thanks to him Icelanders are having a debate that isn‘t only money and politics. And again the nation rallies against the system.


I listened this morning to a phone-in on the Bylgjan radio and all the people I heard were pro bringing young Joel to Iceland and even allowing surrogate motherhood.

And I began to wonder...

To explain, Baby Joel is a child borne by a surrogate mother who carried a fertilized egg from an Icelandic couple. The surrogate mother is a married Indian woman so the child was born there, she handed the baby over (no claims, fee paid), he was immediately given an Icelandic citizenship by Parliament and then the doubts started to stack up.

The Indian system ruled over custody that there was a question about custody, whatever the mother had signed.

The Icelandic system seems to want to make an example of this and has not issued a passport yet. See Kastljós!

The Icelandic ministries are also cooperating with Europe and Scandinavia on politics of surrogate mothers and so the poor parents are stuck like sacrificial lambs as is baby Joel. See Kastljós!

So why not help a couple desperate for a baby to get one? There certainly is the pain and the desperation and costs and waiting. Believe me – I´ve seen it and I do understand.

But is it a human right thing to get a baby whatever the measure and costs?

For parents it may seem so very much so. Having first tried for years the natural way, then the various medical ways, then maybe waiting for a child to adopt, eventually being afraid you fall off a list… because you are too old! And gays can do it - should laws discriminate?

So human rights – of parents? Hardly. I cannot for the life of me see it like that. A craving, a desire, a desperate longing yes. But should anyone be able to get a surrogate baby? Well anyone can become parent the natural way - no checklists -  so why not? However, if you want to adopt there’s a very complicated checklist…

But on the other hand the baby has rights. It has all kinds of human rights and one is that an individual should not be bought and sold. So, if that is correct we have to look at the system from such a point.

Then there is the surrogate mother. Her rights? Carrying a baby (i.e. pregnancy) and child birth are each very complicated matters. Many things can go wrong, whatever medical tests can tell you. Can this become a career or should any woman only do this once? Should we say one baby is ok, even twins but no triplets? Where is the line between surrogacy and adoption?

At last – on what grounds is this done? For the money? As a humane thing? Are we risking that people with money prey on deprived neighbours, poor countries? Are we risking that people running human trafficking would join in?

So for me the bottom line is ethics. Get the ethics right and you have base lines and standards to follow.

I however feel very sorry for baby Joel and his parents. Everyone (or most people) sympathize with them stuck in India, wrapped in red tape. Most of us want them back and able to have normal lives. Even Parliament (Althingi) gave him immediately citizenship. But the Home office is making a point and see it as a part of international cooperation. One would have thought laws passed by Althingi were enough to get the ministry office to obey.

But then you have not seen Yes, minister.