YouTubers Shane Dawson and Ryland Adams have announced that a woman they hired to be a surrogate is now pregnant with twins. There is concern over the well-being of the children due to Dawson’s past inappropriate behavior regarding children.
In a video announcement, Dawson and Adams traveled to Seattle, Washington, to attend the six-week ultrasound the surrogate was undergoing, which was delayed a week so that the men could be present, according to People. In the newly released video which was filmed back in May, Adams states, “We’re pregnant, b***!”
“Whatever God wants for us is what it’s gonna be,” said Adams as they discussed whether one or two embryos implanted and if they were male or female. But they themselves have attempted to take on the role of God and it may affect the children negatively.
Sexual comments about children
In 2020, a petition was initiated to ban Dawson from YouTube. The petition, which failed to garner enough signatures, states, “Shane dawson has a video circling around social media… admitting to openly finding kids, even babies, sexy. He compared masturbating to a baby as being the same to having a foot fetish. He sees them as sexual beings. Children. … Shane Dawson is a danger to all youth….”
Dawson has a long history of pedophilic comments and sexualizing children. Evie Magazine spotlighted his extensive history of inappropriate remarks. “In 2020, a clip of Shane resurfaced that showed himself pretending to masturbate in front of a poster of Willow Smith,” Gina Florio wrote. “She was 11 years old when she released her single ‘Whip My Hair,’ and in the clip, he said, ‘Whip your hair back and forth.’”
Florio wrote:
[H]e shared an older clip of himself admitting that he searched for child pornography and even typed in ‘naked baby.’ He said he couldn’t understand why anybody could be turned on by that, then followed that up with, ‘But… it was sexy.’
Twitter user @belugasong shared a long thread of many other moments where Shane was caught sexualizing children. In one clip, he was video chatting with a young teenager who was a fan of his. He kept telling her to twerk, and after she finally did twerk for the camera, he told her to ‘show herself.’ In another video, he showed a series of photos featuring young girls wearing some of his merch. He said, ‘I would rape all of you.’
Even worse is an audio clip from ‘Shane and Friends’ where he recalled a moment of asking someone to have sex with his dog. ‘If I had a child, which is the same as a dog to me,’ he said. ‘Well, I guess when they’re a baby you don’t want to picture someone f*cking them.’ His co-host shared a news story of a man who raped a 4-month-old infant and killed her.
Shane laughed and declared, ‘Amazing!’ Then he speculated how exactly the baby would have died during the sex act.
If he had attempted to adopt a child, it’s likely Dawson would have been prevented from doing so, due to his history of treating children as sexual objects. Adoption keeps the child’s best interests in mind; with IVF and surrogacy, the adults are the clients and there are no background checks required.
Effects of IVF
IVF carries physical risks for children conceived in this manner as well, including the risk of low birth weight, premature birth, perinatal mortality, cerebral palsy, and a “significantly” increased risk of birth defects compared to children conceived naturally. They are also at risk for high blood pressure, and girls conceived through IVF can have advanced bone age and hormonal imbalances during puberty.
In addition, some studies show an increased risk of childhood illnesses for children conceived using IVF, including an increased risk of cardiovascular problems, early-onset acute lymphoblastic leukemia, an increased risk of cancer in general, epigenetic disorders, cognitive impairment, and possible infertility of their own.
There are also emotional and psychological risks for the children, including a risk of ADHD, autism, and depression. Claire, who was conceived through IVF, explained that she always knew her parents loved her and wanted her, but that learning about her conception caused her emotional pain. She said:
Somehow, somewhere, my parents developed the idea that they deserved to have a baby, and it didn’t matter how much it cost, how many times it took, or how many died in the process. They deserved a child. And with an attitude like that, by the time I was born they thought they deserved to have the perfect child… as Dad defined a perfect child. And since they deserved a child, I was their property to be controlled, not a person or a gift to be treasured.
READ: Creating babies to kill: The union of IVF and ‘selective reduction’
Samantha explained her perspective as a child conceived in order to be raised by two men:
I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as a mother until I watched “The Land Before Time” at school. My 5-year-old brain could not understand why I didn’t have the mom that I suddenly desperately wanted. I felt the loss. I felt the hole.
As I grew, I tried to fill that hole with aunts, my dads’ lesbian friends and teachers. I remember asking my first grade teacher if I could call her mom. I asked that question of any woman who showed me any amount of love and affection. It was instinctive. I craved a mother’s love even though I was well-loved by my two gay dads.
Embryos are human beings
Human embryos are human beings, but IVF and surrogacy turn them into commodities and those involved often ignore the threats to the children’s well-being that are associated with the process. The babies that the surrogate is carrying for Dawson and Adams are living human beings — who are not only at risk of abuse, but also the negative consequences that befall so many children conceived through IVF and surrogacy.
