In the days after we learned about the mass in Baby's chest, I thought a lot about how the doctors and staff spoke about our baby. They were all so kind, so reassuring. There was never the slightest suggestion that this baby was going to be too much work, too much money, too much bother. I would have been deeply offended if there had been. Instead, they told us exactly what needed to happen and the potentially lengthy measures that would be taken to ensure Baby's health--even surgery in utero if necessary.
Now we have made it past the point where surgery in utero would be needed and hopefully we won't need to do much more than monitor Baby for quite some time. But I'm still thinking about what the medical world could and would do for my unborn son. And it strikes me as hypocritical.
Believe me, I'm so grateful for the modern medicine that can help my baby, but it's amazing to me that my baby is worth fighting for simply because he is wanted, not necessarily because he's human. I know that medical technology has helped us see unborn babies for what they are, and more and more people are realizing that their lives are worth fighting for. But I hope it continues that way. I hope it does because we won't be able to have it both ways forever. An unborn baby is either a person or it's not, and if the medical world and public policy slide the other way, I shudder to think of the mothers like me who might be told, "I'm sorry, but it's only a fetus, and it just isn't worth using the limited resources we have..."
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