Charles,

Very, very far. In fact, this is a silly fear-mongering argument. Your horror scenario is ridiculous, and it will never happen, and you probably know it.

I’m not into instilling fear in anyone and yes, it probably wont happen in the lifetime of anyone here. I try not to post dishonestly. Aldous Huxley, I’m sure you know, posed a similar scenario in Brave New World - with the women all on contraception and babies produced on conveyor belts in factories. Here’s part of the blurb to the paperback:

….this warned against the dehumanising aspects of scientific and material ‘progress’.

It was published in 1932 and I guess if Huxley really thought we were moving in that direction he would be surprised at the lack of progress by 2010, the vast majority of people still preferring the standard method of procreation practised by the “barbarians” in his novel.

So yes, we are a long way away from the nightmare scenario I posed but we are still edging in that direction with abortions at later term and euthanasia gradually being introduced at the other end of life.

So while I don’t agree with the rhetoric and methods of some of the pro-lifers, I can understand where they are coming from.