The recent New York Times’
article “The Two-Minus-One Pregnancy” by Ruth Padawer covers the increasing frequency of women undergoing selective reduction from a twin pregnancy to a singleton pregnancy after utilizing fertility treatments to conceive. This is not a complete argument and rebuttal against selective reduction or abortion because the ridiculousness of a woman terminating a pregnancy after purposefully and knowingly undergoing fertility treatments that increase her chance of having multiples I believe speaks for itself; rather I am speaking from a personal place and a more visceral response.
It has been less than a year since a routine ultrasound at approximately eleven weeks into my pregnancy revealed two tiny babies in my uterus. My husband Eric and I were astounded to see and hear two little heartbeats and see four sets of limbs moving back and forth. We understand the fear, uncertainty and anxiety that come with finding out that one is having twins. However, I cannot comprehend the selfishness that it takes to abort one of your own children, and not the other, in order to maintain desired financial and social comfort. The NYT article is not talking about terminating a pregnancy due to failed contraception, birth defects and cases of incest and rape—the mainstays we hear about in the abortion debate. We are talking about women killing babies they tried very purposefully to conceive.
The problem with pro-choice rhetoric is that “choice” is supposed to leave us with more freedom but instead burdens us with increasing ethical dilemmas of making said choices. A bioethicist named Josephine Johnston, whose focus is assisted reproduction at the Hastings Center in Garrison, N.Y., is quoted in the article as saying, “In an odd way, having more choices actually places a much greater burden on women, because we become the creators of our circumstance, whereas, before, we were the recipients of them. I’m not saying we should have less choices; I’m saying choices are not always as liberating and empowering as we hope they will be.” I think it is common grace that so many people claiming to espouse pro-choice views are expressing discomfort with and actively debating this topic. The article addresses the guilt that the parents feel in choosing to terminate one of their unborn twin babies and the need to conceal their decision from family and friends. I think that the guilt and subsequent concealment of their action speaks volumes as to how repugnant selective reduction is; these people are working to silence the screams of their consciences. To abort one’s child is simply wrong and I believe a grave sin tantamount to murder.
My twin boys are only five months old. I am often asked how their little personalities are already different. There are nuances in their behavior, different preferences and so forth but at this stage they are largely alike; they’re babies after all. Yet they are loved equally, wholly and independently of each other. I cannot imagine one of my sons without the other. Since I saw them on that ultrasound screen I have loved them despite any fear I may have had. I cannot imagine a mother determining that one twin’s life was more valuable than the other and choosing to end that other child’s life. I cannot adequately explain the joy and wonder in looking down while nursing and seeing two little sets of blue eyes locked in on mine, my babies’ hands intertwined or touching one another’s faces. How could I explain that all the worries that I could have a favorite twin or that I wouldn’t have enough love to go around completely dissipated after I gave birth? God has also more than provided for these babies’ needs; they lack nothing. How then could those parents who use IVF to conceive twins be so far removed from seeing those twins as a blessing? Instead they actually see two babies as a burden and decide to kill one. In the womb where they should be safe and nourished, where they represent innocence and are entirely equal in their countenance, a parent or doctor decides to inject one of their hearts with potassium chloride until it stops beating—in a word, horrifying.
The reality is that the parents acting in such a selfish and heinous way have a lifetime to process their decision. Every time their remaining child reaches a milestone, that parent will have to wonder about the twin that could have been, that
was, the child whose life they extinguished. What about these children that are missing their twin? How will they react to discovering that mom and dad chose to abort their twin rather than them due to perceived convenience, a preferred gender or just pure chance (in the case of identical twins)?
It also stands to reason that if decisions such as these are the result of “choice,” then what else will I see happening in the name of reproductive rights in my lifetime? Babies are already aborted in certain parts of the world because they are the wrong gender causing an unnatural ratio of men to women. If aborting a healthy twin is also okay, then is it alright to abort a baby because genetic testing reveals they do not have the preferred color eyes, hair or skin? I don’t think asking that is extreme. We are allowing people to take embryos, human lives, created in a petri dish and transferred into what should be the sanctity of the womb, then reverting and destroying it.
I asked my husband for his thoughts on the article and added a disclaimer that it might make him upset if he read it. His blunt response was as follows: “I have no need to read the article. I find it asinine that people in our society are so desperate to have children they pay a doctor [thousands of dollars] to become pregnant. Then by God’s grace and His blessing He gives them two children, but because of their fear, selfish desires, it does not fit into their plan, etc. (all pathetic excuses for rationalizing killing a baby), they spend more money and kill one of them so their plans are met.”
Everyday Eric and I comment at how blessed we are to have our twin boys. Would life be easier if we had only one baby? Yes. But would it be better? No. We would not have double the joy, double the smiles, double the coos and double the chubby cheeks to kiss. I get so excited thinking about the near future when we will have
two little boys running around, giggling and playing with one another. While I feel indignation at those people that choose to abort one of their babies, ultimately I feel sad for them. I grieve for them. One has to be calloused and suppress a fear of God (or be godless save their own self-worship) to make such a decision. Not only will they miss the presence of their little one, the blood of that baby is on their hands; God will be their judge.
