A single woman living on benefit courtesy of the taxpayer has delivered a baby who was conceived through IVF paid for by taxpayers.
I wish the baby well. I wish its mother either paid employment or a substantial surprise legacy from a long-forgotten distant relative so that she may relieve me of the compulsion to pay for her fertility treatment, should she wish for more children, her maintenance and that of her child - or children.
I wonder whether Christina Odone and I are the only people who think this is an illegitimate use of the taxpayers' money.
I wonder, too, whether, whether a publicly-funded medical authority in the United Kingdom would lightly refuse a similar request from a woman with no visible means of supporting herself. Or would they grant it on the grounds of non-judgmental 'inclusiveness' and 'diversity', fearing perhaps that, if refused, she would approach one of m'learned friends who would take her case to the High Court.
I wonder, too, whether that court would have declared that state-funded IVF (and of course the consequent ongoing cost-burden on the woman's fellow-citizens, or at least on those paying tax) is intrinsic to the 'right to family life' guaranteed, like so many abuses of the enraged, disenfranchised and disregarded upright citizen, by the Human Rights Act and the European Convention to which it binds the UK.
I wonder, too, whether Harriet Harman QC would have anything to say on this matter. Or Helena Kennedy QC. Oh, never mind.
I have always thought :
ReplyDelete(a) don't have children unless you can afford to support them
(b) you should only be allowed fertility treatment on the NHS for the first child (I know a bloke who has 5 kids all through IVF and they never paid for any of it)
Benefits should be restricted. There is no incentive in this country to work hard and save money because you only qualify for state handouts if you have spent it all first!!
Only one Mercedes on the taxpayer, the rest you must pay for yourself. Sorry, it doesn't work for me.
ReplyDeleteInfertility is unfortunate for those who want to spread their genes through future generations but it is a fact of life. It is not a disease or a handicap and no one has the right to produce children any more than anyone has the right to drive a Mercedes.
If you're not absolutely and totally sure that you really want to have kids, don't have them. In fact, an awful lot of people who have children these days shouldn't have kids.
ReplyDeleteA lot of guys are quite happy never to father children. (My brother's experience of getting some horrid Jeremy Kyle reject up the duff has instilled this in me.)