The Meaning of (real) Life

For years, we snarky ones have had a field day with the song, "Every Sperm is Sacred," from Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life." Last week, it seemed that life has imitated art once again. This from Wilmington, Delaware, via a recent Huffington Post:

The Wilmington City Council has a message for men -- sperm are people, too. 

The council for Delaware's largest city passed a resolution by an 8-4 vote Thursday calling on the Delaware legislature, other state legislatures and the U.S. Congress to pass laws granting "personhood" rights to eggs and sperm. The resolution was authored by councilwoman Loretta Walsh as a protest in the current battle over women's health care access. 

"[E]ach 'egg person' and each 'sperm person' should be deemed equal in the eyes of the government and be subject to the same laws and regulations as any other dependent minor and be protected against abuse, neglect or abandonment by the parent or guardian," says the resolution. "[L]aws should be enacted by all legislative bodies in the United States to promote equal representation, and should potentially include laws in defense of 'personhood,' forbidding every man from destroying his semen."

I wasn't convinced, that this was a real story It's something that might be concocted by The Onion or the Borowitz Report. But I googled the original resolution. What is really going on is a bit more interesting:

Far from being a serious attempt to criminalize the destruction of sperm, the resolution is a tongue-in-cheek attempt to make the point that if women's freedoms must be curtailed in order to save their eggs, then equality requires that sperm be protected from the depredations and inattention of men.

When it comes to reproductive rights, it appears that the silly season is upon us. Lucky for us, some of our legislators are fighting back with humor!