Human embryos “left over” from IVF fertilization are now being used to create jewelry, shocking and angering many.

The Australian company, Baby Bee Hummingbirds, is known for creating keepsakes out of things such as umbilical cords and breast-milk. The company’s founder, Amy McGlade said:

“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.”

She said the idea gives parents “the everlasting tangible keepsake of a loved one that you can have forever.”

A writer disturbed by this idea, Simcha Fischer responded to the company founder’s statement of “what a better way to celebrate your most treasured gift, your child, than through jewelry,” saying:

“Well, you could let him live, I suppose. You could allow him the basic dignity of spending time in the womb of his mother, to live or not, to grow or not, but at least to have a chance. You could celebrate the life of your child by giving him some small gift of warmth and softness, however brief, rather than letting him travel in an insulated pouch from lab to lab, frozen and sterile from beginning to end. You could conceive a child so as to give him life, and you could rise like a human should above the blind proliferation of biology.”

The concept of being “pro-life” or not pro-life is a difficult one to discuss.

While recognizing that people should have a right to do what they will with their bodies and no government should use force against them for it, it could be considered dehumanizing to make art out of what could have been a human being.

Do you think this is disrespectful or a harmless work of art?

(Image credit: NKC, HB)