Double Your Profit?

Belgium’s got a lot of things going for it. First, they have waffles. Then, they have no laws banning selling your children to the highest bidder...it’s a real good situation, I’d say:

A mother in the Belgian tourist haven of Ghent has been accused by her estranged husband of selling her newborn twin boys for more than $13,000 to pay for cosmetic surgery.

Marc Poppe told an undercover reporter for Dutch television that Sonia Ringoir had sold the babies to a friend to fund liposuction, the fat removal procedure. He said the couple had searched the Internet to find a quick way to make money: “It was financially attractive to us. Of course we wouldn’t do it for nothing.”

Since Belgium has no law banning the sale of children, Ringoir was charged with “degrading treatment” of the twins. She was also charged with fraud after a Dutch couple alleged she had conned them by falsely offering to be a surrogate mother. If convicted, she could face between one month and five years in jail.

After spending five days in jail, Ringoir was released last Wednesday to await the results of the police investigation. She denied the allegations, claiming she gave her babies away for free last March to a friend who could not have her own child because of a weak heart.

I’m conflicted here. On the one hand, I think that if you have children and don’t want them, it’s better to give them to parents who would love them and have the means to take care of them. On the other hand, I believe unattractive women should spend as much as possible to look more aesthetically pleasing to me. Wait, so actually, I’m totally cool with her selling these kids then. I mean, her price seems a little low, but the kids might be ugly or something, so maybe that explains it. Or one of them has a flipper. Either way, this couple was probably concerned they were getting a lemon. Adoption agencies make an assload out of selling kids - why, if it’s legal, this lady can’t do the same.