Wednesday August 11, 2010
Jennifer Aniston: Who Needs Men when We Have Artificial Insemination?
By Peter J. Smith
HOLLYWOOD, California, August 11, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – It’s a feminist adage that “a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle”, but Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston is taking that message a step further, saying that women don’t need to “fiddle” with men in order to have and raise a child, thanks to artificial insemination.
Aniston, 41, is the star of an upcoming Miramax film “Switch,” in which Aniston’s character decides she is tired of waiting for a man to come into her life to have a baby, and elects for artificial insemination. Apparently the film is supposed to be a romantic comedy, as it turns out that the best friend of Aniston’s character is the sperm donor.
A reporter at a Sunday press conference in Los Angeles, where the actress was highlighting her movie, questioned Aniston’s character, suggesting it was “selfish” to deprive a child of a father in order to fulfill a personal dream of parenthood.
“Women are realizing more and more that you don’t have to settle, they don’t have to fiddle with a man to have that child,” the 
actress asserted in their exchange. “They are realizing if it’s that time in their life and they want this part, they can do it with or without that.”
“The point of the movie is, what is that which defines family?” Aniston continued. “It isn’t necessarily the traditional mother, father, two children and a dog named Spot.”
She stated, “Love is love and family is what is around you and who is in your immediate sphere.”
The comments have drawn criticism from pro-family and other conservative leaders and commentators, who say that Aniston is devaluing the important role that fathers play in the lives of their children.
“What ‘can’ be done is not always what ‘should’ be done,” Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America told LifeSiteNews.com in response to Aniston’s statements. “A woman can have children without a father to raise them, but it’s the children who pay the high price for that decision.”
Wright added that while traditional family values may be “boring” for those in Hollywood, “they develop stable, secure and healthy people.”
“Children need a dad. No amount of insisting ‘but I can do whatever I want’ can change that fact,” she said.
National Catholic Register Columnist Tim Drake, also took umbrage at Aniston’s comments, saying the actress needed a basic lesson in biology.
“While a woman may choose to have a child without a man in her life, she’ll still need something that only a man can provide to help her conceive that child,” remarked Drake. “Hence, they do have to ‘fiddle’ with a man, in one way or another, to bear children.”
See related coverage by LifeSiteNews.com:
Broken Family Structure Leads to Educational Difficulties for Children
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06011605.html
Number of U.S. Unwed Mothers Reaches All-Time High
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/nov/05110106.html
Census Data Reveals Children Need a Mum and a Dad
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/mar/04031903.html
Former Rocker Geldof says Two Parents Ideal Way to Raise Children
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/oct/04100711.html