When is a baby a baby and when is it a foetus?
The dictionary says that a foetus is yet to be born. A baby is once it is born. But, up until the growing acceptance of abortion, no one really used the word foetus unless they were members of the health profession in a clinical enironment. To most of us, a baby is a baby, whether it is born or still kicking inside its Mother's "tummy". Few of us gathered the siblings around and let them gape in wonder and invite them to feel the foetus kick.
No, to most of us, a baby is a baby, from the the first bout of morning sickness to the trip to the maternity ward. Mother and Father know the pain and joy of 9 months that herald the expansion of the family unit.
44 years ago, I remember the excitement when I found out that we were expecting our first child. We wept tears of happiness and felt so very clever for having done something so wondrous.... creating a brand new human life. In its rawest form, that miracle of "making "a baby is rather better than "making" a cake or "making" a table. Yes, all require the gathering of ingredients and putting them together in the right order, the right combination and the right amounts... yet, the creation of a baby is rather more spectacular. Because all those little toes and fingers and bits and bobs have to be put together so cleverly. And all we had to do was put some cream and egg together and let the process begin.
These days, if I put cream and an egg together, I can make an omelette or a scrambled egg. If I set out to make an omelette and I finish up with a scrambled egg, I don't throw it out and start again. I accept that I made a scrambled egg. But I would doubt that I would mix the cream and egg together unless I intended to make one of the aforementioned dishes.
Should I sense that my omelette is scrambling, I certainly would not continue to cook it and then, just before serving, grab the spatula and smash the omelette gone wrong and toss it in the bin. I would not wait until it was being served and on the plate. No, I would make my decision long before. Nor would I take said scrambled eggs and flog it off to medical research or someone who can make a quick buck out of recycling it in order to make someone else's omelette better.
Obviously, I am talking about abortion and how society is accepting the unacceptable because one is known as a foetus and one is known as a baby. Yet both are the same. It is all in a name.
Why is the pregnancy of, for example, the Duchess of Sussex, celebrated, yet millions of other babies are "terminated "every year? Why is one given a baby shower and another is given a visit to the sluice room? Because one is wanted and one is not? A woman miscarries unintentionaly and spontaneously and there is mourning. A baby that is unwanted is sent to the sluice room after having their little limbs ripped from the tiny body and not given a second thought. The freedom of choice for a woman is a very powerful thing. It literally gives power to choose life over death. For someone other than herself. What a great and dreadful power. What a weapon. What a blessing and what a curse.
One only has to watch the early episodes of "Call the Midwife "to feel the anxiety of a couple, already overburdened by children too numerous to do right by. Long gone are the days when pregnancy was an unavoidable consequence of marriage between a man and a woman. In times gone by, prior to the advent of the pill, tubal ligation, vasectomy, condoms or other gadgets carefully deployed to prevent the cream and egg getting together for a long and robust chinwag, married couples had to accept that life had been created and get on and make do.
Contraception seems to be out of favour and out of fashion these days. In today's so called modern world, with this abundant choice of birth control methods, women are now using abortion as birth control.
Have we become so devoid of normality that we sit by and condone things that are so beyond decency that we are numb to the horror that is going on in our societies? All under the banner of organisations like planned parenthood?
You only have to look at the precious images of little lives in varying stages of development to see how clever, magnificent and truly miraculous this thing called a baby really is. And a week by week pictorial of development makes me wonder how women can support their rights and their bodies over the rights of this newcomer who has no voice.
I knew a Nurse, back in the 1970's who strongly supported the "Right to Choose . Where she worked, only Nurses who volunteered to assist in an abortion were part of the team. She gladly put her hand up and assisted in the procedure. She walked out a changed person. She never volunteered again and became a staunch anti abortion campaigner. She said "Until you have seen one, you have no idea just how awful it is. It was as though I was party to a murder, a gruseome murder where the victim was literally torn apart. "
As adults, we have an obligation to advocate for those unable to advocate for themselves. The elderly, the sick, the young, animals and indeed the yet to be born. But., to be fair, we don't seem to be doing a crash hot job of looking after any of the other vulnerable groups so I suppose I should not be surprised.
Something has to change. And change fast. There is no more Community Outrage over child neglect, spousal abuse, elder abuse, animal abuse or child abuse. Our media pick and choose which battles to fight and which to ignore. Sadly, the ones that are ignored and put in the "too hard :" basket are those that are most likely to offend the permanently offended: the left.
If the left support it, it is probably something that the Silent Majority are vehemently against.
The militancy of men, through all the centuries, has drenched the world with blood. The militancy of women has harmed no human life save the lives of those who fought the battle of righteousness.
You may regret having said that Ms Pankhurst It seems to me that women are harming more human lives than ever before. In fact, women have terminated over 1,500,000,000 human lives worldwide since 1980. That is a big number. 7 million so far this year. It is only the beginning of March.....to put it in perspective, about 1.5 million died in World War 1 and 6.5 million in World War 2. So Ms Pankhurst would have to rethink her famous quote based on those statistics.
Many believe that the power to choose life over death of another human being is a power that is too great and onerous a responsibility. So much so that euthanasia is still illegal in most countries. A person who wishes to terminate their own life due to illness, pain, suffering and helplessness is prevented from doing so. Yet a woman can make this decision on behalf of her unborn child and that is her right ....
My final comment is whose life is it anyway? It is MURDER. It is about control. Think about it.
