| Why ? "God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers." Rudyard Kipling
I have not forgotten an incident which took place in the early nineties. Back then in India, modern medical techniques such as ultrasound were rampantly being used to identify the sex of the baby - which was then aborted if it wasn’t to the couple’s choice. I remember vividly my neighbors relatives had travelled all the way from a remote village near Warangal to Hyderabad to know their baby's sex in advance...The couple had a four year old daughter and they badly wanted a son. They had taken a decision to abort the fetus if it turned out to be a girl once again. Their joy knew no bounds when they were told that it was a male foetus.They went back happily to their home town...Unfortunately a fortnight later, the wife miscarried and the couple lost their unborn male baby... They were devastated and it took a great deal of time, medication and counseling for them to be brought back on track. What are we to make of this? The couple was willing to abort the fetus if it turned out to be a female. Then why were they so shattered when they lost the baby in a natural manner? Does your love for your baby alter depending on the sex of the fetus? Does one have to take a look at the sonogram and decide whether the fetus is worthy of living or not? Why target the innocent baby in the womb based on the sex? Why? I couldn’t erase this particular incident as I didn’t find an answer till date to any of the questions that crop up, now and again, in my mind, the mother in me could not justify their action... Every child is unique. Gender is unimportant and secondary. They are all beautiful and a blessing and it actually doesn’t matter whether it is a girl or a boy as long as he or she is healthy, and as I am penning my thoughts, I recollected the Moorish proverb, “Every beetle is a gazelle in the eyes of its mother.... and I couldn’t agree with it more. 09/06/10  04:24 pm, by Priya Rao  Categories: Articles  Post your comment Comment
Very thought provoking article, this reminds me of a close relative of mine who happens to be the second girl child in the family. She had been told by her own mother that they tried aborting her but she still escaped. Just think about the psychological feelings of the person who comes to know that she was not wanted in the first place in the family. My relative had been living with this feeling of neglect for long until she became a mother herself. Mothers can also be so insensitive and unmindful. Society can condition even mothers with its own values, beliefs and preferences.......thiagu 17/06/10 08:37 pm |
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