I would be proud to call Kristen Stewart my friend

I know this is not a topic I normally speak about, but as a woman and also as a Twilight fan, I had to speak up about how Kristen Stewart is being treated, with the exception of a few articles, like Jodie Foster's open letter and the one out today in the LA Times) after she was caught kissing Rupert Sanders. 

Let's rip her a new one and make sure she knows it because that's what's been happening every day in the press. Never mind that she is an unmarried 22 year-old woman closer to childhood than adulthood and Rupert Sanders is a 41 year-old married man with two children. And, if that weren't enough, a man in a position of power as her director.

No offense to Robert Paatinson, but you and Kristen didn't stand a chance against him and his moves. I did not have to be there to know that Rupert probably pursued Kristen relentlessly, calling and emailing and texting her. Saying things she had never heard and in a way no one had ever done before. That's the difference between a 41 year-old man and 26 year-old one.

But, where is the anger and the outrage against him? Where is the talk of him being replaced as the director for Snow White and The Huntsman? Granted Kristen is the bigger star and the higher up you are the farther you fall, but that's not the point here. If there is to be any blame the blame should rest completely with Rupert and that is so far from the reality. I for one am not laughing.

Not that getting caught kissing a married man, but how the media have handled this incident is similar to how the media have handled women and children who have been raped or molested: blame the victim instead of the perpetrator and that's what's happening to Kristen for she is the victim here, if there is one, and she is being blamed. Have we learned nothing??? When will it stop?

I for one would be proud to call Kristen my friend and to stand next to her at any event. Rupert, not so much. 

In New Zealand one couple per week heads overseas for a baby

In the United States a woman can be paid for her time and effort to donate her eggs or to carry someone else's baby. That is not so in most parts of the world, where paying a woman for her work (and make no mistake about it, it's work) is illegal. That is exactly what Mellany and Simon have had to do as they live in New Zealand, where paying a woman for her services to donate her eggs is illegal. As a result, there are very few women who will donate for altruistic reasons, so many couples are forced to go abroad.

Can you imagine traveling to a foreign country to have your family? If you are from New Zealand at least you do not have to deal with the language barrier if you come to the US, but what about those from Spain? France?

Mellany and Simon have been trying for eight years and they say:

Nothing would be too great to realise the dream....You just expect that you're going to get older get married have a family and live happily ever after.

I was fortunate enough to only have to travel to another state where my children were born via surrogacy so I have great compassion for those who come halfway around the world to become a family.

However, bioethicist Professor Gareth Jones says:

Do we want to have markets of buying and selling for not only human tissue but also children, or babies? I think there are issues involved here ethically.

What say you? As always feel free to comment below.

The Third Party: Olympia: Surrogate Mothers Are Not For Sale

The Third Party: Olympia: Surrogate Mothers Are Not For Sale

Mom says church threatened to kick her out over "gay" blog post

Her son? He's five years old.

A mom blogger knows as "Cop's Wife" posted a picture of her son and wrote about how she decided to allow her 5-year-old son to dress as his favorite cartoon character, Daphne from Scooby Doo.

She even went on the Today Show to talk about the decision. This was last fall. Now she writes in her blog:

"I cannot tell you the betrayal I feel. The church, or at the very least Pastor is trying to bully me into shutting up, and I find that so disheartening. I am floored by the fact that they’ve gone to so much trouble regarding a post that discusses love and tolerance that was posted 3 months ago. I am shocked that they do not see the hypocrisy of what they are saying to me. I am in complete disbelief that this has been handled in the way it has. I have never felt less welcome in a church. This is not the church that I grew up in. This is not the God that I know."

I doubt we have heard the last on this issue so stay tuned and fee free to comment.

Belgium Gay Couple's Son in Ukrainian Orphanage

What a sad story for this couple, Laurent and Peter, a gay couple from Belgium who decided to have a child through surrogacy, in part because it is very difficult for a gay couple to adopt a child in their country.

The unfortunate part is they chose Ukraine for their surrogacy and now, 2 1/2 years after their child's birth, the baby languishes in a Ukrainian orphanage. The reason: the child is not a citizen of the Ukraine so that country will not issue legal papers, including a passport and nor is the child a citizen of Belgium because that country, while not having any laws for or against surrogacy, will not issue legal papers.

No matter what you think of the couple, no child should suffer like this.

I received a desperate call last summer from a couple who had a newborn daughter born via surrogacy in India. The husband's country, Spain, was refusing to issue a passport. I was able to connect them to an experienced surrogacy attorney in India and fortunately the mother was American and after 3 months they were finally able to leave that country.