CIENCIASMEDICASNEWS: Surrogate ‘slave’ scandal in US | BioEdge

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Surrogate ‘slave’ scandal in US | BioEdge | Sunday, April 2, 2017

Surrogate ‘slave’ scandal in US

by Xavier Symons | 1 Apr 2017 |

ESTHELA CLARK STANDS ACCUSED OF HOLDING A SURROGATE CAPITIVE FOR THREE YEARS

A 47-year old Florida woman has been jailed after holding a Mexican surrogate “captive” in a bid to get her pregnant.

Esthela Clark stands accused by authorities of physically abusing a 26-year-old surrogate woman and forcing her to have sex with strangers.

Clark met the woman in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2012, where she promised her $4000 in exchange for acting as a surrogate.

Clarke arranged for the woman to be brought from Mexico to Jacksonville, Florida, and then attempted to inseminate the woman herself rather than seek medical help.

Initially Clark’s boyfriend provided sperm which Clark used to inseminate the woman, but she failed to fall pregnant after repeated attempts. Clark turned to strangers to help the surrogate conceive a child.

Clark is believed to have held the woman captive in her one-room apartment until mid-2015 when an acquaintance intervened and rescued the woman.

Clark has also been charged with alien smuggling, as she organised to have the surrogate smuggled illegally into the US in 2012. She pleaded guilty on Monday to a single count of forced labour charge in a plea deal announced by acting United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow.

In late 2016 surrogacy for foreigners was banned in the Mexican state of Tabasco (the only Mexican state to allow surrogacy). Commercial surrogacy is restricted in most US states, with the notable exception of California.

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Here’s something very odd. Back in 2015 terrifying news came from Brazil about an epidemic of microcephaly – babies born with very small heads and brain damage. It seemed to be associated with the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Neighbouring countries prepared for the spread of Zika with a sense of dread. Lobby groups urged relaxation of abortion restrictions.

But how often in the past six months have we heard about the Zika virus and microenphaly? A graph on Google trends shows that it has dropped off the media’s radar. With good reason – there has been no epidemic of microcephaly. The experts expected 1,000 cases, but there were only about 100.

Nobody knows why this is. There is an association between Zika and microcephaly, but it must be more complicated than scientists first thought. An article in the NEJM this week reports the good and canvases a number of explanations. It may be that for microencephaly to occur, a woman needs to contract both Zika and Dengue fever.

Perhaps there is a lesson here – however bad the news is, DON'T PANIC!! In particular, there is no need to push for changes in abortion legislation before we know all the facts...