Ping Keera - cool royal family you have there

[Chak]

Keera,

I just read a newspaper account of the Royal Princess Mette-Marit going to
India to help a friend and employee bring his children home. Very cool!

It looks like the Norwegian Royal Family is much, much cooler than the
English one.

Chak

[Keera Ann Fox]

Post by Chak
Keera,
I just read a newspaper account of the Royal Princess Mette-Marit going to
India to help a friend and employee bring his children home. Very cool!
It looks like the Norwegian Royal Family is much, much cooler than the
English one.
Chak

Depends on your definition of "cool". Surrogacy is illegal in Norway. She is being met with a lot of criticism here at home because of that. Even though she traveled as herself, on her own dime, to India as a favor to her gay friends, she's still a representative of Norway.

I'm on the fence re surrogacy, but I do disagree with Norway's policy on not acknowledging the Norwegian father's paternity because the mother didn't fill out an adoption form (!).

I hope what the Crown Princess did will spark a debate and at least get the country to ensure the kids' rights and citizenship via their Norwegian parent.

[Chak]

Post by Keera Ann Fox
Depends on your definition of "cool". Surrogacy is illegal in Norway.
She is being met with a lot of criticism here at home because of that.
Even though she traveled as herself, on her own dime, to India as a
favor to her gay friends, she's still a representative of Norway.
I'm on the fence re surrogacy, but I do disagree with Norway's policy
on not acknowledging the Norwegian father's paternity because the
mother didn't fill out an adoption form (!).
I hope what the Crown Princess did will spark a debate and at least
get the country to ensure the kids' rights and citizenship via their
Norwegian parent.

I didn't know she was taking flak - the international press articles I
read didn't say anything about that.

Why is surrogacy illegal?

Chak

[Keera Ann Fox]

Post by Chak

Post by Keera Ann Fox
Depends on your definition of "cool". Surrogacy is illegal in Norway.
She is being met with a lot of criticism here at home because of that.
Even though she traveled as herself, on her own dime, to India as a
favor to her gay friends, she's still a representative of Norway.
I'm on the fence re surrogacy, but I do disagree with Norway's policy
on not acknowledging the Norwegian father's paternity because the
mother didn't fill out an adoption form (!).
I hope what the Crown Princess did will spark a debate and at least
get the country to ensure the kids' rights and citizenship via their
Norwegian parent.

I didn't know she was taking flak - the international press articles I
read didn't say anything about that.
Why is surrogacy illegal?

Because Norway's oddly conservative about how babies are made. Examples: Single people can't adopt or get in-vitro fertilization. Only this year have the politicians begun to think positively about allowing egg donation. Sperm donation was allowed until Norway removed the donor's right to anonymity.

Supportive articles have started to show up in the Norwegian press re our Crown Princess so it looks like maybe we can settle down to having a proper discussion rather than just wring hands.

[Keera Ann Fox]

Post by Keera Ann Fox

Post by Chak

Post by Keera Ann Fox
Depends on your definition of "cool". Surrogacy is illegal in Norway.
She is being met with a lot of criticism here at home because of that.
Even though she traveled as herself, on her own dime, to India as a
favor to her gay friends, she's still a representative of Norway.
I'm on the fence re surrogacy, but I do disagree with Norway's policy
on not acknowledging the Norwegian father's paternity because the
mother didn't fill out an adoption form (!).
I hope what the Crown Princess did will spark a debate and at least
get the country to ensure the kids' rights and citizenship via their
Norwegian parent.

I didn't know she was taking flak - the international press articles I
read didn't say anything about that.
Why is surrogacy illegal?

Because Norway's oddly conservative about how babies are made. Examples: Single people can't adopt or get in-vitro fertilization. Only this year have the politicians begun to think positively about allowing egg donation. Sperm donation was allowed until Norway removed the donor's right to anonymity.

Correction: Sperm donation is still allowed but no longer exists in-country because Norwegian men don't like not being anonymous. Understandably.

Post by Keera Ann Fox
Supportive articles have started to show up in the Norwegian press re our Crown Princess so it looks like maybe we can settle down to having a proper discussion rather than just wring hands.

[Chak]

Post by Keera Ann Fox
Correction: Sperm donation is still allowed but no longer exists
in-country because Norwegian men don't like not being anonymous.
Understandably.

Yes, I get that. What man in his right mind would donate sperm if it meant
that he might be on the hook for all kinds of legal difficulties.

Chak

[Chak]

Post by Keera Ann Fox
Because Norway's oddly conservative about how babies are made.
Examples: Single people can't adopt or get in-vitro fertilization.
Only this year have the politicians begun to think positively about
allowing egg donation. Sperm donation was allowed until Norway removed
the donor's right to anonymity.
Supportive articles have started to show up in the Norwegian press re
our Crown Princess so it looks like maybe we can settle down to having
a proper discussion rather than just wring hands.

They don't allow sperm donors to remain anonymous? That must make
donors pretty rare. That's a little sad, methinks.

I hope you're right about the proper discussion.

Chak

[Keera Ann Fox]

Post by Chak

Post by Keera Ann Fox
Because Norway's oddly conservative about how babies are made.
Examples: Single people can't adopt or get in-vitro fertilization.
Only this year have the politicians begun to think positively about
allowing egg donation. Sperm donation was allowed until Norway removed
the donor's right to anonymity.
Supportive articles have started to show up in the Norwegian press re
our Crown Princess so it looks like maybe we can settle down to having
a proper discussion rather than just wring hands.

They don't allow sperm donors to remain anonymous? That must make
donors pretty rare. That's a little sad, methinks.

It's ended sperm donation in Norway. Women go to Denmark.

Post by Chak
I hope you're right about the proper discussion.

So do I. The hubbub has died down, but the Crown Princess is still getting criticism since the royal family is supposed to be neutral, i.e. non-political.

[Chak]

Post by Keera Ann Fox
So do I. The hubbub has died down, but the Crown Princess is still
getting criticism since the royal family is supposed to be neutral,
i.e. non-political.

I sort of get that, but she's not just a royal, she's a human being.

I do envy you, though. Your country is having a problem because one of its
heads of state is *too* generous. :-)

Chak

[Keera Ann Fox]

Post by Chak

Post by Keera Ann Fox
So do I. The hubbub has died down, but the Crown Princess is still
getting criticism since the royal family is supposed to be neutral,
i.e. non-political.

I sort of get that, but she's not just a royal, she's a human being.

Which doesn't matter since she chose to marry the future head of a country. She's no longer a regular person, and that means she has to careful about what she does, even when she's "off the clock". After all, this personal trip made the news because of her status.

Post by Chak
I do envy you, though. Your country is having a problem because one of its
heads of state is *too* generous. :-)

Nothing to envy. Her issue fell off the radar fairly quickly. The issues cluttering our newspapers this autumn and winter are the constant reports of older Labor politicians having sex with teenage girls, "just like in America". It's not how Norwegians like to think of their leaders, and some cases have made it to court. Now, _that's_ a stink!