“What a better way to celebrate your most treasured gift, your child, than through jewelry? Unfortunately, Amy McGlade,experienced midwife and founder of Baby Bee Hummingbird, isn't referencing jewelry memoirs made of precious stones or metals, but of "extra" human embryos.
That's right. Baby Bee Hummingbird, a company in Australia, is turning frozen embryos into jewelry. Upon cremation of the embryo, the ashes are, according to McGlade, turned proudly into "sacred art" as another "option" for couples to "gently close the door." The company has utilized breastmilk, placenta, hair and even umbilical cord stumps for similar keepsakes, but as of now monopolize the world of frozen embryo jewelry. In fact, McGlade would assert, her company "pioneers" it:
“I don’t believe there is any other business in the world that creates jewelry from human embryos, and I firmly believe that we are pioneering the way in this sacred art, and opening the possibilities to families around the world.”
Kidspot, a blog advertising for the company, unfolds the bittersweet story of Shaun and Belinda Stafford. The couple's decision came following a trying and painful duration of six years of in vitro fertilization which produced their oldest child, Lachlan, and two twins under two, Charlotte and William. While Mr. and Mrs. Stafford are grateful for the outcome of IVF, the experience was remarkably emotional---too emotional to continue. Their next question was, as is always the case, what to do with the remaining frozen embryos? Circumstances rendered donation impossible, and preservation fees were simply unfeasible. Belinda now proudly displays the seven pendants resting always near her heart,
McGlade enforces Belinda's rationale in explaining that embryo stems converted into pendants offers a way for parents to remember their children.
"Now Ms Stafford has all of her babies with her every day – including seven embryos in her heart-shaped pendant worn close to her heart, always." Jewelry ranges from $80 to $600 and include a variety of styles.
The Staffords' case represents hundreds across the nation who struggle with infertility and the consequential acceptance of never having children outside of scientific intervention. It is a pitiable one, to be sure. However, it must be measured with the Word of God, and not emotions. The relevant questions that Christians must rightfully assert involve the preciousness of life. Do humans ever have a right to tamper with these origins---and if so, to what extent? How far is too far, and where is the line of profanity first crossed? And, lastly, is ethicality determined by outcome?
