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 Our Philosophy and Goals
Rainbow Flag Health Services' founding goal is building a stronger Lesbian
& Gay community by assisting Lesbians and Gay Men to bring children
into their families. Toward this end we are guided by two principles, respect
for all the parties involved and truthfulness toward those children born
of our endeavors.
Respect for all parties involved extends to the women who wish to bear
a child, their partners who may also be a parent to the child, the men
who donate their sperm, the health practitioners involved in assisting
the process and, most importantly, the children created by our joint endeavors,
as well as the children already present in the family.
Rainbow Flag Health Services believes in truthfulness to the child about
the "child's potential need to know about his or her origins and whether
the prospective parents are prepared for the questions which may arise
while the child is growing up".* That is why Rainbow Flag Health Services'
policy was designed so the donor, who is not the legal parent of the child,
will be known to the child while they grow up. This is similar in concept
to open adoption, where the birth mother is known to the child although
she is not the child's legal parent.
Another area of concern to Rainbow Flag Health Services is "any risk
of harm to the child or children who may be born, including the risk of
neglect or abuse".* Therefore, Rainbow Flag Health Services cannot offer
its services to those who, it feels, are at risk for physically, sexually
or psychologically abusing children. Abuse includes the practices of male
or female genital mutilation, commonly referred to as circumcision.
With reference to this issue and religious freedom: A human being is
not born with a particular set of religious beliefs. A child, born from
parents of a particular religion, is not a member of that religion by choice.
The issue is not the religious freedom of the parents, but the human rights
of the child. When there is a clash between children's human rights and
parental rites, Rainbow Flag Health Services is on the side of the children.
"The constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion do not sanction harming
another person in the practice of one's religion." Committee on Bioethics,
American Academy of Pediatrics, Pediatrics, January 1988.
For further information on Male Genital Mutilation (circumcision)
please refer to the following pages NOHARMM
(National Organization to Halt the Abuse and Routine Mutilation of Males),
Circumcision
Information and Resource Pages, and our own Links
page.
*Code of Practice of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority of Great Britain. |
