"VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A couple has been arrested in what Canadian police said on Tuesday was an apparent offer to sell a seven-day-old baby girl on Craigslist for C$10,000 (5,000 pounds).. . . . .
Vancouver police said the couple told investigators the offer was a hoax, but were arrested for public mischief with other criminal charges possible as the investigation continues.
'There are so many questions here,' Constable Tim Fanning told reporters."
Yes. Many questions indeed.
The story notes that a woman saw the ad and repored it to the police. So yay for self-policing. I wonder how many people read that ad and didn't do anything about it?
The newspaper article says that the ad mentioned that the baby was an accident and that the couple could not afford to care for it properly and wanted to give the baby a good home. When confronted by police, the couple said it was a hoax.
Granted it's wrong. But how and why is it wrong? Women who go through the "normal" channels for putting a baby up for adoption often set up legal agreements with the adopters in which the adopters compensate the mother for medical expenses as well as compensation for time and inconvenience. So that sounds an awful like "work for hire" to me. So I don't think you can say selling babies on Craigslist is wrong simply because they were asking for money. What if someone had answered the ad and they'd come to an agreement in principal about "the deal" and _then_ gone to all the proper authorities for making the adoption happen legally. Would that have been so bad?
My reaction to this scenario is that it would still be very unseemly, but at least that the baby's interests would have been properly represented. And I think that reveals the real nub of the evil in the craigslist baby ad. Sure the couple's ad said that they wanted to "give the baby a good home." But I think the couple's intentions were given away by the fact that the ad said the baby was "for sale" instead of "up for adoption." That kind of says it all. Would they have given up the baby to the first person who showed up at the door step with the cash? The very nature of craigslist would lead you to think so. I know that when I've sold stuff on Craigslist my policy is strictly, "first person on my doorstep with the cash gets it." I think that's why the idea of selling one's baby on Craigs list is so deeply viscerally wrong. it's not the money so much as it is the complete disregard for the baby's well being and safety.
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