Life's Persistent Questions

The secret weapon.

What is that?

That apparently is a sonogram of a fetus. And the "weapon" of choice by two groups of people that have very divergent goals.

The use of sonogram to determine gender of the fetus as a stepping stone by many parents in countries like China to selectively abort female fetus is well known. This has led to servere gender imbalance and has disastrous implications for the overal population.

However, a recent story in New York Times demostrated that the same tool can be used to help bringing a baby to term by find an additional way to build connections between the fetus and the mother.

Now been a uterus-less male, I don't pretend to know the physical hardship, and emotional rollercoaster that comes with pregnancy. I don't know whether seeing a grainy image of a fetus on a monitor actually make the physical and moral implication of pregnancy seem more real to a mother. But I am just amazed by the fact how seeing the same kinds of images could lead drastically different life-and-death decisions (regardless who you are or where you are at).

Look, I'm still pro-choice, but not as militant as I used to be. I suppose it was easier when you are younger when one believes he is immortal. I suppose that I have reach Erikson's 7th stage of development prematurely, Generativity vs. Stagnation, when one begins to think about his mortality and legacy, and is more sensible to the idea of child bearing. But been male sometimes shuts you out from questioning pro-choice, simply because I "don't understand ..." Fine. But self-educating is difficult, so I'm hanging in limbo. The decision to terminate a pregnancy based purely on gender is abhorrant. The belief that abortion is evil while turning a blind eye to people poorly or not educated about safe sex is irresponsible and short-sighted.

That's why I do find Hillary Clinton's recent softened stance on the abortion issue reasonable. In fact, it echos my belief about how abortion should be prevented and protected. But I have come to discover that the fundamental premise in this stance (which I thought was pretty reasonable), "in an ideal world, there will be no unwanted pregnancy . . . therefore no need to perform abortion (except for medical conditions)," might be wrong. So what do I know?

posted by hedgehog @ 9:33 AM