Redefining Parenthood

The Institute for American Values and the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy have issued a new report, The Revolution in Parenthood: The Emerging Global Clash Between Adult Rights and Children's Needs.  Produced by the Commission on Parenthood's Future (including Don Browning, Jean Elshtain, Robert George, and John Witte), the principal author is Elizabeth Marquardt.  Here is an excerpt from the introduction:

Right now, our societies urgently require reflection, debate, and research about the policies and practices that will serve the best interests of children—those already born and those yet to be born. This report argues that around the world the state is taking an increasingly active role in defining and regulating parenthood far beyond its limited, vital, historic, and child-centered role in finding suitable parents for needy children through adoption. The report documents how the state creates new uncertainties and vulnerabilities when it increasingly seeks to administer parenthood, often giving far greater attention to adult rights than to children’s needs. For the most part, this report does not advocate for or against particular policy prescriptions (such as banning donor conception) but rather seeks to draw urgently needed public attention to the current revolutionary changes in parenthood, to point out the risks and contradictions arising from increased state intervention, and to insist that our societies immediately undertake a vigorous, child-centered debate.

Rob