The right to reproduce | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Radio Netherlands Worldwide

101_6_SIG

July 25 2009. In The State We're In this week, a misunderstanding over China's one child policy has tragic consequences. We consider the right to live or die with dignity, and listen again to an award winning documentary on life in Gaza.

We're always searching for personal stories about human rights and how we treat each other. Do you have a story to share with us? If so click here

Dying with dignity
We hear from Edward Turner of the UK based Dignity in Dying. His organization advocates for the right of terminally ill people to opt for euthanasia. We also talk to Bert Keizer, a doctor at a chronic care facility in the Netherlands who has helped several people to die.

Living with dignity
We speak with Stephen Drake of the disability rights group Not Dead Yet. He opposes all forms of assisted dying on the grounds that it discriminates against disabled people and undermines their right to live with dignity.

Listen to this story here

This week’s theme is “The right to reproduce”

Reproductive dilemma
Gynaecologist Ronit Haimov-Kochman talks about being obliged to offer fertility treatment to a teenage Palestinian girl against her better judgement.

The price of the one child policy
China’s decades-old One Child policy is arguably the strictest in the world when it comes to limiting the right to reproduce. We hear about the terrible price one family pays when this policy is wrongly enforced by local officials.

Understanding infertility
Susan Robinson and her husband live in Calgary, Canada and have access to the best infertility treatment on offer; yet they still haven’t been able to fulfil their most fundamental desire.

Listen to this segment

Also in the program…

Prison within a prison
This program won a Gold Medal at the 2009 New York Festivals.
Life in the Gaza strip is extremely hard. We follow one family and find out how they cope with fear, claustrophobia and hopelessness in the lead-up to an Israeli crackdown on the territory.

Listen to the documentary here

Jin Yani and Yang Zhengchen
The newly wed Susan Robinson
Ronit Haimov-Kochman outsie her clinic
Bert Keizer

<< >>

Bookmark/Search this post with:

Post new comment

Video highlights

Programme name

Listen

Bridges with Africa

Discussion

Mim 23 November 2009 - 3:46am / Canada

Okay, I'm not married or mature enough to have kids or anything, but I feel the same way about this Susan Robinson. How can she describe her condition with such deep-rooted self-pity and melodrama when people are prescribed cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and other death sentences? And more than that, even looking at infertility as a serious "disease" of the body, it's one of the very few diseases in the world that have so many "treatments", if not cures. Among them are adoption if you really want to care for a kid, getting a dog if you really want to care for some other being, or drawing a fricking picture of your and your husband's features together if you are so narcissistic that you must see a replicated version of yourself on a daily basis.

Megan 30 July 2009 - 6:23am

I found it SO FUNNY to log onto this site and see that the person before me said *exactly*, word for word, what I'd planned to say, "Cry me a river!" Listening to Susan Robinson's essay read in her weak, meek, tremulous little girl voice, I think it may be a good thing that she is infertile, and too selfish to adopt, because parenthood takes strength, grit and fortitude, not to mention humor. She sounded so pathetic . I found it difficult to listen, let alone have sympathy for her. If she spent half the time she spends on feeling sorry for herself doing something actually worthwhile, she'd get on with her life and find the fulfillment that she seems to think ONLY making a baby can bring. PULL-ease, Susan! Pull yourself together and GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE! If you want so badly to parent, there are thousands of worthy children living in squalor, without clean water, enough food, shelter, education, without the love of a parent, the love you purportedly claim to have so much of. Parenting ISN'T the creation and birthing of a child. It is every single moment afterward.

Anonymous 28 July 2009 - 6:54pm

I find Susan Robinson's story sad but also disturbing in many ways. She seems to give the impression that not being able to have a child somehow makes a person a little less than human. As a woman who is not fertile, I take offense to that. My husband and I have actually chosen not to have children. When we first got married, we thought that we would end up adopting children. We have been married for ten years and have decided that we like our lives without children. We still have friends, good times with family, and involvement in our community. I don't think that we are missing anything. I have no doubt that Susan finds her situation painful. I also think that she may be the type of person who has not been through much adversity in her life. After ten years, if they want children so badly, "why not adopt" is certainly a valid question. What would be wrong with giving a home to a child who needs it? One advantage that I had, is that I knew from a young age that I would not be able to have children. Susan is probably not used to the idea that our bodies are not always perfect. After ten years, she should have worked through some of that. A part of me really thinks, sister, you need to get over it and move on. I know that sounds cold, but honest. (If she has experienced a miscarriage or a stillbirth, that of course is different than just infertility. You don't get over that.) But if she really wants a child, no one is stopping her. She and her husband can adopt anytime. They have chosen to keep themselves mired in a painful process (infertility treatments) for ten years. That ultimately only hurts them.

Lucia 26 July 2009 - 10:27pm

Cry me a river, Susan Robinson. I had no sympathy for her tale of self-pity over not being able to have children. For those of us who haven't found a wonderful life partner to marry like she has, we have the same issues of being out of place with family and friends and we go through it alone. She should thank her lucky stars that she has a friend and lover to lean on. Adopting may not be her first choice, but it's a more reasonable choice when you have a partner to raise a child with and you can also give a loving home to a child who needs it. When you are single, these options are even more limited.

Radio Netherlands Worldwide

101_6_SIG

The State We're In - The right to reproduce

On air: 24 July 2009 22:00 - 31 July 2009 22:00

Discussion

Post new comment

RNW Player

Dossiers RNW

Video highlights

Listen on demand

Music programmes

Blogs

About RNW

More from RNW

Dossiers