In North America and to a lesser degree in Europe, when you call customer service, more often then not, your being patched directly through to an Indian call center to handle your requests. Taxes with companies such as H&R Block are also subcontracted to India including a lot of manufacturing, resource allocation and even strategic development. If you have some money and don’t have time to become pregnant yourself, it only makes sense to outsource that to India as well!

Pregnancy

It’s no secret that the entire process of pregnancy takes a number of the woman, that, till now, was simply a birthright, there where no other alternatives. The hormonal, psychological and physical toll or pregnancy stay with her the rest of her life along with the stretch marks. Pregnancy isn’t without it’s risks but as women push their child bearing years into their mid to late 30s, infertility becomes a growing issue as well. India serves an unlimited number of young, economically disadvantaged women who are willing, if the price is right, to become a surrogate. The process occurs through in-vitro fertilization (sorry guys) using the man’s sperm and the woman’s eggs, they are then implanted into the surrogate. The end result? Your child in every sense of the word, sharing no genetic material with the surrogate and your wife or girlfriend gets to keep her amazing body, having a child without ever taking a day off work nor pain associated with giving birth.

Womb for Rent

Now, this surrogate isn’t getting pregnant with your child for the fun of it, she expects to be financially compensated. In India, a woman can expect around $4 500 for the entire process, not a lot by First World standards but this is 15 years of wages for the average maid! She gets pregnant and wins essentially a lottery that sets her up on a better path in the future. She wins as she gets out of relative poverty, the family wins as they get a child out of the transaction. Both winners right?

Self-Induced problem

It’s no secret that one of the major factors causing infertility is age, the longer people wait before starting a family, the harder it will be. A woman as at her peak reproductively in her 20s, out in nature, this isn’t a problem but in the real world, that is right before university, after high school! It seems nature hasn’t adapted fast enough to our ever changing world and now, couples the world over, are paying dearly for it. A woman having a child in her 20s, unless within a very secure relationship, has a higher chance of being marginalized the rest of her life. I wrote a few months back about my experiences working in Canada and Australia at minimum wage jobs, what I may not have mentioned is that the vast majority of the women that where there, you guessed it, started their family in their early 20s if not younger. They where mostly divorced or never got married to begin with, most of them hated their jobs as much as their lot in life. For men, although we can have children all our lives, our peak is in our mid 20s. It isn’t just infertility rates that increase with age by the way, genetic defects rise as well such as Autism, Down Syndrome and a host of other conditions that a family would want to avoid at all costs.

Moral Issues

This isn’t just happening in India, it’s happening around the world, even in the industrialized world so I am not picking on India specifically. The biggest question you need to ask in these circumstances is that if the woman was economically advantaged, would she want to become a surrogate for a family she has no relationship with? Although there are exceptions, I bet 95% of the time the answer will be “Hell No”. So, the question must be asked, is renting a strangers womb for 9 months a moral act? I know that on the streets of Bangkok (Thailand), you can rent a young woman for $20US for a 24 hour period (use your imagination) so is this much different? How much different is renting a woman for 9 months compared to a 24 hour period, or even buying a liver for that matter? These are poor women, who have no real choice, selling the only thing they have to try to better themselves. Alternatively, most people rent their brains and bodies 8 hours a day, so how is even this act different? I am not here to preach, but just think about this and feel free to share your comments.

The Bottom Line

There is no way around this, renting a person, now matter how well intentioned, is still renting a person.

Buzvia: Giving birth becomes the latest job outsourced to India

Pregnancy is a wonderful thing but too many woman take advantage of this situation to excuse excessive eating. A normal pregnancy should lead to about 30 to 35 pounds of additional weight gained and subsequently lost a year or so after childbirth. The problem is many woman are already obese before becoming pregnant, as a result, that additional weight is not necessary and possibly harmful to the baby… these habits sadly persist during the breastfeeding phase as well, compounding the potential problems for both mother and child.

Study Results

The British Journal of Nutrition published on Wednesday a study involving rats with one group of test subjects was given junk food while the other healthy food. Rats that where fed a healthy diet had healthy offspring but those in the other study group gave birth to rats that overate, leading towards obesity.

Ramifications

Although this study was done on rats, which may not necessarily translate into humans, there are some things to learn here. The first is that if you are pregnant or about to become pregnant, you should have a healthy diet nailed down pat so that if you have sugar cravings, you can control them with healthy foods. Sure, homemade carrot muffins aren’t as tasty as a Oh Henry chocolate bar but it’s just as filling and will provide the necessary nutrition for your growing child. Secondly, your child should have priority over your own desires, this includes drinking no alcohol what-so-ever and of course, not smoking… your child deserves this at the very least. Thirdly, the healthy habits developed before and during pregnancy should stick with you during breastfeeding and later in life as well. If you need to, use pregnancy as an excuse to get yourself into shape, join a gym, go for long walks and tell yourself there is no going back if you lived an unhealthy life previously.

The Bottom Line

Excuses can be used in a positive way, use pregnancy as an excuse to become the person you may not have been before.

Buzzvia
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/08/14/pregnancy-junkfood.html?ref=rss

For quite some time, mothers have been told that supplements are just as good if not better then breast-milk but study upon study point out that nothing even comes close to fresh milk produced by the mother for her growing child.

Why do we breastfeed?

Whether you are an evolutionist or believer, you cannot deny that we are a mammal. One of the key tenets of being a mammal is that you actually give birth to live children who then breastfeed for an extended period of time. Unlike birds who essentially eat pre-digested food brought by both parents or reptiles that are born with all the skills needed to catch their first meals, us mammals are born completely defenseless. We generally reproduce slowly over an extended period of time, unlike insects that give birth to thousands of youngsters in one shot. This is where breastfeeding come into place. It’s very taxing on a woman to continue fetal development within the womb and the birth canal is a very narrow road indeed so to have optimal children, mammals continue the process of fetal development outside the womb. Although we aren’t as extreme as Kangaroos, we are about middle of the road compared to say a whale or elephant.

What is breast milk?

Breast milk can be thought of as the original supplement produced by nature, it has all the vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, fats, proteins and even hormones that a baby needs for optimal health throughout a lifetime. There have been a number of studies published which indicate that the benefits of breast milk over formula continue to pay dividends even when the child progresses to solid food. Unlike formula, it does not rot teeth, it does not produce nauseous surprises in diapers and even helps the child fight immune system invaders when they have none developed yet!

Vital Stats

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), out of the 74% of mothers that try breast feeding, only 30% are still doing it three months later and six months later, the number drops to 11%. This is scary to say the least, I could argue that this is one of the many risk factors leading to future health problems. The more “primitive” the society, the more they tend to breastfeed both in duration and proportion, there is also information indicating these societies have less relative health problems as well (hmmm…).

Breast Feeding Statistics

Being a man, I feel lucky I don’t have the body changes that happen with producing and feeding a child but thanks to CNN, they have given a list of top 5 problems and fixes with feeding the little critters.

Mistake #1: Solitary Confinement

Breastfeeding has become a solitary activity in our modern culture, mothers with problems are left to their own devices to figure out answers. This is ashame as most mothers, well, breastfed and haven gone through a few children, are vast untapped resources as to improving the experience and avoiding problems. Start a support group if none is around, visit the local hospital or ask your doctor if there is one around to attend.

Mistake #2: Not Learning from Success

If you have a friend or family member that recently had children, ask them to help you if with your problems. Your own mother and your extended family may also be great resources, tap them!

Mistake #3: Got MORE Milk?

Babies sometimes enjoy the process of nursing a little too much, they just won’t stop, don’t worry, when the baby is full, he or she will stop and give you a break. Don’t assume you aren’t producing enough milk, hence the reason for excessive nursing but if you have concerns, use a breast pump to measure production or see a doctor to make sure everything is alright.

Mistake #4: Breastfeeding with Strangers

Don’t worry, breasts are breasts… you had your legs open during birth in front of complete strangers so showing your breasts can’t be any worse. Your baby will thank you and there is no reason to be shy.

Mistake #5: Rivers aren’t build in a Day!

When you begin breastfeeding your child, you don’t produce copious amounts of milk equivalent to the neighborhood cow! At first, the production amount is highly concentrated and more colostrum then milk, measured in teaspoons, not the gallon. Keep at it and the river will soon build itself up as your baby develops.

The Bottom Line

Motherhood and breastfeeding should go hand in hand. It’s what is best for you, your baby and ultimately the survival of the human species. We have been breastfeeding our offspring for well over a million years, don’t be so quick to jump to formula if you experience a few issues.

Buzzvia
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/09/ep.breastfeeding/index.html

When I first saw the likes of Baby Einstein-type educational videos coming into the market a few years ago, all I could do was shake my head. What is the educational value of putting a vibrant, energetic infant in front of a static and motionless television? In a world where more is perceived as better, I thought this was just plain misguided, now a study by Time has finally caught up to my way of thinking.

Time Magazine Summary

Two researchers from the University of Washington calculated that for every hour an infant was stuck in front of a television to “learn”, they ended up becoming less educated by half a dozen daily words. When this was done over a period of years, the effects where detrimental, decreasing language skills by up to 10% verses infants who never watched these silly videos. This isn’t the first time these infant videos have been found to have a detrimental impact on childhood development, researchers are also suggesting this over-stimulation is causing hyper-activity later in life… leading to suggestions to not allow infants under two years old to watch television at all.

My Personal Views

I have a very strong feeling that mass media (notably television) is behind the sudden jump in ADD/ADHD epidemic hitting the United States and other countries. I could also easily blame them for the obesity and diabetic pandemic as well, but that is another story. Here is my reasoning (I am not a pediatrician).

Go back 10 thousand years ago, you had a child, it would spend all day looking at grass grow, playing with crickets and looking at the slow progress of nature. Every once in a while there would be some action, an tiger caught an antelope on the Serengeti or a hunter came back from a trip with a huge gash on his arm but otherwise, things moved relatively slowly. Daily life involved waking up, eating, observing the community and nature then going to bed. Changes where as slow as the seasons but steady. We lived this way for hundreds of thousands of years, as such, our brain adapted to this mode of life.

Modern times, a child is born and right away they are thrusted into an exciting, 24 hour lifestyle. Anytime of day or night, the television is available to stimulate and educate, there is no down time, no “learn on your own” time, everything is pushed upon you whether you want to learn it or not. Parents, being stimulation junkies because of growing up on television themselves, think a child should be exposed to just as much stimulation ASAP to become smarter. Hence, these silly infant videos. Our brains cannot adapt at an early age at something “new” happening every 20 seconds for hours at a time without compromising other developmental abilities.

What does television teach?

Well, I believe that 99% of what is watched on television is quickly forgotten once the set is closed, we are deletion creatures and television really gives very little that is worth remembering (passive education is worthless in my opinion). So, television teaches children how to become very efficient at deleting information while over-stimulating the brain in the process. I believe television is an addiction, worse then cigarettes, worse then heroin and worse then alcohol or junk food. Watch television, become over-stimulated, turn television off, boredom and skills that should have been learned are not present. For instance, in classrooms, many children have a lot of trouble just siting down or paying attention, which, oddly, isn’t a problem when they are watching television. I see many children having speech and reading problems because the daily dose of passive television did little to develop their own critical thinking (or hobbies). I see children who simply cannot think for themselves, seriously, ask them a question that isn’t part of a lesson plan and many are absolutely lost. Television has sucked out their critical thinking functions, destroyed their ability to adapt to sudden changes and taken away their ability to pay attention. These tend to dissipate with age but I believe these lessons learned by passive learning present themselves in dysfunctions later in life. Television does not teach spacial organization, exploration nor a sense of self.

Television in Adulthood

Alright, television for infants if bad, I would argue it’s no better for adults neither. Although our brains still act like sponges throughout our lifetimes, they do become more hard-wired, less flexible progressively through the years. I see a lot of adults that have trouble simply being alone for any extended period of time or lacking the ability to learn new skills in an efficient manner. Those decades of wasting but a few hours of their daily lives to television have taken their toll. Many end up at jobs they hate, in relationships that are dysfunctional with their only anchor in life being the television. They might now know the geography of this planet but they sure can quote you a few television show lines or the latest Hollywood gossip. Worthless, unworthy knowledge in my opinion is no better then no knowledge.

Just imagine how our modern civilization would be if, instead of watching television for a few hours a night, we dedicated ourselves towards learning, educating and developing ourselves.

Solution

Well, I have noticed by personal observation from children to adults that there is very little that is positive about watching television. What is the educational value of a show that you don’t remember a few weeks later? What value is a physical sport when you are a passive participant? How do you feel being told what to buy and when? Even children shows tend to speak down to them without any progression or worse, full of violence and unhealthy habits. Well my friends, my solution is throw out the television.

I stopped watching television long ago, I don’t miss it… I challenge you to do the same.

The Bottom Line

I believe television has made slaves of far to many human brains on this planet and I refuse to bow down to any master other then myself.

Buzzvia
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650352,00.html?

Although this documentary was done in the early 1980s, the same issues are alive and well today. From forced abortions in China to fit the “one child policy” to mothers who aren’t ready for the burden of motherhood. Abortion isn’t an easy topic to tackle but this documentary does a fantastic job of outlining the situations real women face on a daily basis around the world.

Summary

• old seminary transformed into an abortion clinic
• pregnancy termination is a very complex issue and a very difficult situation for many woman to deal with even once they have entered the clinics wall
• Christian group try to trick woman away from their choice to have an abortion
• abortionist has no problem with this title but does have problem with being defined only as an abortionist when the doctor provides far more services to the woman then simply pregnancy termination services
• clinic offers counseling for each of the patients before and after the procedure
• Christians essentially equate a first term child with a fully developed human being but in a smaller form factor
• many of the woman seeking abortions do so because of financial and societal pressures that would adversely affect their life in a negative way
• woman seeking abortions seem to come from dysfunctional families on the lower side of the economical and educational ladder (at least in this documentary)
• abortion occurs in a very clinical setting by people who are professionals at dealing with the various issues associated with the procedure
• entire abortion takes only a few minutes to perform from start to finish and seems like a relatively painless procedure when compared to childbirth
• emotional impact doesn’t seem to hit the patient until after the procedure is completed
• first trimester material is mostly placental, not a fully formed small human being that Christians anti-abortionists claim
• abortionist admits that second term abortions can take their toll emotionally, hence, first term abortions are preferred (sooner is always better)
• anti-abortionists try to associate an emotional connection with their unborn child, giving it human traits such as ability to suck their thumb, heartbeat, brainwaves, bowel movements etc.
• interesting anti-abortionist quote: “it’s not whether to have a baby or not, the baby is already there, the question is what to do with the baby”
• anti-abortionists focus on the graphic nature of having an abortion performed instead of the emotional, lifelong toll of woman having children they cannot take care of
• dedication of both anti-abortionists and doctors performing abortions for their causes is admirable
• clinical counseling asks very tough questions to the soon to be potential patient and lets them know that alternatives are available
• anti-abortionists paint a rosy picture of what happens if they keep the baby no matter how bad their situation in life really is

Interesting Observations

I am sure that having an abortion is a very difficult decision for any woman to face no matter their socio-economical background but in this documentary, I am surprised at how down and out the woman really are. Their decisions are not based on the love for their child but on the burden it may have on them and their family. Another interesting observation is how the boyfriend during the two abortions performed on camera are nowhere to be seen and aren’t the most upstanding citizens to begin with. On a final note, if you take away the religious philosophies behind the anti-abortionists beliefs, their arguments have absolutely no legs to stand on.

The Bottom Line

Abortion should be a freely available option for any woman who thinks, justifiably or not, that she isn’t really for motherhood.

Buzzvia
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/twenty/watch/abortion.html