Jeff Hardesty

The Stork of Course Jeff Hardesty

Where do babies come from? The answer is no longer as simple as, ?When a man loves a woman?? What if a man loves a man? Or a woman loves a woman? Or a man loves a woman but has a varicose vein in his testicle that?s retarding his sperm? What then? Struggling with infertility, expensive treatments, and a lack of a surrogate mother, three Seattle couples from sordid upbringings decide it?s time to combine efforts to create the family they?ve always wanted. But swapping genetic material between friends is not as simple as a handshake, nor is such an arrangement immune to human nature. Can a mother turn over her child to a friend after nine months of bonding? Can a man and woman create life and remain platonic? And would such a family ever be accepted? Soon the couples find themselves entangled in a web of legal ambiguity, cultural bias, complex fertility science, human sexuality, and election year politics. The road to familial bliss becomes even bumpier when Rick Francisco of Rolling Stone magazine catches wind of the couples? unconventional plan and becomes hell-bent on exploiting it for his own journalistic gain. Presidential frontrunner Senator James Flannery piles on, vowing, if elected, to rid the country of the immorality of same sex families and controversial reproductive methods. The couples become the target of right-wing organizations across the country and a hate group with a sinister plan to sway the Presidential election in Flannery?s favor. War-torn and weary from a long year of challenges, the couples must fight to save their family and the country from a devastating fate.