Doctor How Dare You!
This past week I have heard the stories of two very different pregnant women, their very different experiences with physicians and similar indignation with the way they were treated.
The first story I came across while reading an article by Joyce Arthur on the Pro-Choice Action Network website. The article was well written and I hope to write here about my response to some of the issues she raises in the near future. The part that struck me the most though was near the end when she recounts her own story of accessing medical care during her pregnancy. She writes:
So what do we do with these two passionate pleas for physicians to stay out of women's decisions about how to deal with there pregnancies. I admit that I have struggled greatly with these two stories as I identify with the physician in the first and the mother in the second, but the two mothers views seem so similar. I also believe that each of the physicians acted ethically. There are three principles though that I believe are fundamentally different in regards to the two women.
1) The second mother chose mystery while the first chose finality. While the health of her baby seemed hopeless the second mother chose to maintain hope and embrace the mystery that the Kingdom might break in and her baby may survive or not. The first mother made the equally difficult decision to reject mystery and make the call herself that this baby was not right at this time.
2) The second mother chose to believe that her baby may be a person with a handicap while the first believed that she may be a person with a parasite. The word "may" is key here. Either woman may be correct but which, if their choice was in ere, would have the greatest moral consequence.
3) The second mother chose sacrifice while the first chose comfort. I certainly do not mean to assume that comfort equates with ease because the decision to terminate a pregnancy must be heart wrenching but it is none-the-less a decision that leads to comfort.
As I've thought about these stories, a third came to mind. A third fourth woman also were pregnant and eventually had their babies. One of the babies died and each mother laid claim that the surviving baby belonged to them. The judge offered this solution; the surviving baby would be cut in two and half given to each mother. One woman was pleased with this ruling while the other immediately withdrew her claim and asked the other woman to keep the whole baby. Needless to say the judge promptly gave custody to the woman who would rather give up her baby than have him killed.
Although this story differs again from the previous two I think that the real mother also chose mystery, personhood, and sacrifice. Although one need not always choose each of these values in order to act ethically, her choice in 1 Kings 3 should be an example as to where to put our bias in our dealings with mothers and children at any stage.
The first story I came across while reading an article by Joyce Arthur on the Pro-Choice Action Network website. The article was well written and I hope to write here about my response to some of the issues she raises in the near future. The part that struck me the most though was near the end when she recounts her own story of accessing medical care during her pregnancy. She writes:
Perhaps an effective way to convey this is to explain how I felt about my own abortion 15 years ago, obtained under Canada's old discriminatory system of therapeutic hospital abortion committees. The thing that enraged me then, and still does today, is this single overriding thought: How dare they. How dare anyone tell me what I can do with my body, my life. How dare anyone tell me I should submit to their preconceived ideas of how a woman should think and feel, decide and act, live and breathe. How dare they.The second story was told by a woman I deeply respect, Joyce Heron, about her sister. Her sister too accessed medical care but more recently than in the previous instance. Upon investigating some complications of her pregnancy her baby was found to have a serious congenital defect and a late term abortion was recommended. The doctors counseled her that there was no chance that her baby would be born alive and she must terminate the pregnancy immediately. To this she replied, "How dare you tell me to kill my baby. I realize that he may well die soon but I will not have a hand in his death. Women have given birth to stillborn babies for centuries so why should I be any different." She ended up giving birth to a son who lived about six hours and then died.
So what do we do with these two passionate pleas for physicians to stay out of women's decisions about how to deal with there pregnancies. I admit that I have struggled greatly with these two stories as I identify with the physician in the first and the mother in the second, but the two mothers views seem so similar. I also believe that each of the physicians acted ethically. There are three principles though that I believe are fundamentally different in regards to the two women.
1) The second mother chose mystery while the first chose finality. While the health of her baby seemed hopeless the second mother chose to maintain hope and embrace the mystery that the Kingdom might break in and her baby may survive or not. The first mother made the equally difficult decision to reject mystery and make the call herself that this baby was not right at this time.
2) The second mother chose to believe that her baby may be a person with a handicap while the first believed that she may be a person with a parasite. The word "may" is key here. Either woman may be correct but which, if their choice was in ere, would have the greatest moral consequence.
3) The second mother chose sacrifice while the first chose comfort. I certainly do not mean to assume that comfort equates with ease because the decision to terminate a pregnancy must be heart wrenching but it is none-the-less a decision that leads to comfort.
As I've thought about these stories, a third came to mind. A third fourth woman also were pregnant and eventually had their babies. One of the babies died and each mother laid claim that the surviving baby belonged to them. The judge offered this solution; the surviving baby would be cut in two and half given to each mother. One woman was pleased with this ruling while the other immediately withdrew her claim and asked the other woman to keep the whole baby. Needless to say the judge promptly gave custody to the woman who would rather give up her baby than have him killed.
Although this story differs again from the previous two I think that the real mother also chose mystery, personhood, and sacrifice. Although one need not always choose each of these values in order to act ethically, her choice in 1 Kings 3 should be an example as to where to put our bias in our dealings with mothers and children at any stage.
posted by Luke at
9:16 PM
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