A moderately famous feminist, Amy Richards was unexpectedly”diagnosed” with triplets and decided on “selective reduction”, thus only bringing one of the kids to term. She explains all of this in a NY Times article with a clear conscience. She recalls her initial thoughts when she discovered she was pregnant with triplets,
“I looked at Peter (her boyfriend) and asked the doctor: ”Is it possible to get rid of one of them? Or two of them?” The obstetrician wasn’t an expert in selective reduction, but she knew that with a shot of potassium chloride you could eliminate one or more.”
Her justification for the morality of the “procedure”, of course, goes far beyond the “medical” reasoning used in the landmark Roe V. Wade case, and proves what abortion is in many situations; an act of selfishness. She says,
“Not only would I have to be on bed rest at 20 weeks, I wouldn’t be able to fly after 15. I was already at eight weeks. When I found out about the triplets, I felt like: It’s not the back of a pickup at 16, but now I’m going to have to move to Staten Island. I’ll never leave my house because I’ll have to care for these children. I’ll have to start shopping only at Costco and buying big jars of mayonnaise. Even in my moments of thinking about having three, I don’t think that deep down I was ever considering it. “
I know that I’m not a very good father. I’m often more apt to want to sit down at the computer and relax, rather than pick up my daughter. We all slip up. But common sense should tell us that this selfish inclination is not “right” or “normal”. And we all have to make sacrifices and guess what, it sometimes sucks. But personal inconvenience doesn’t mean I can smash my one year old daughters’ skull with a ball pin hammer; that would be murder. You face the challenges that come at you with resolve, and make the best of it. You know you tend to find out that those things that you have to give up when you have children are usually not the things you really need. Sarah and I don’t spend as much time “hanging out at the mall.” We shop and get it done; that ’s the way it’s supposed to be. We don’t have all the time for the things that we used to do, but that’s because we’re doing new things; better things. But to think that my time at the computer is worth the life of a human being is insane. To think that not being able to travel as much is worth the smile of my daughter, would be psychotic. To think that it’s somehow okay to inject a needle into the beating heart of my unborn child, just so I could keep my same apartment; that’s evil.
She goes on to describe the “procedure”:
When we saw the specialist, we found out that I was carrying identical twins and a stand alone. My doctors thought the stand alone was three days older. There was something psychologically comforting about that, since I wanted to have just one. Before the procedure, I was focused on relaxing. But Peter was staring at the sonogram screen thinking: Oh, my gosh, there are three heartbeats. I can’t believe we’re about to make two disappear. The doctor came in, and then Peter was asked to leave. I said, ”Can Peter stay?” The doctor said no. I know Peter was offended by that.
I’m gonna go play with my daughter right now, thank God.
The full NY Times article can be found here:
