March 27, 2008...11:40 pm
What would you do?
I was watching an episode of Law & Order yesterday (ya, ya, i know i am totally vela) and the case revolved around a pregnant woman who gets caught in an elevator that’s carrying a bomb. The bomb explodes and she ends up in a coma; the foetus survives the blast. The foetus has a 100% chance of survival but if the fetus stays then the woman has a 0% chance of survival. If they abort the foetus then the woman has a 5% chance of survival. The husband decides to abort the foetus in order to try and save his wife. In the particular case, the husband makes that decision for different reasons but for discussion sake, let’s assume his motive was purely to improve his wife’s chances of survival.
The police detectives in this episode made a big deal about the husband’s decision to abort the foetus saying melodramatic stuff like “how could he kill his son”. Everyone thought it was totally wrong to try and save the wife. But I felt differently. I agree it is not an easy decision but I didn’t think there was anything wrong in a husband trying to save his wife even thought it would mean losing the baby.
Am I being totally crazy? What would you do in such a situation? I sincerely hope none of my readers have to face such a situation in their life. Also, I am not trying to stir up a controversy here; I know this is a sensitive topic and I am sorry if I have hurt anyone’s feelings. I am just curious to hear both sides of the argument, to see if I can be more sympathetic about the angle the T.V. episode took. Please do leave me your thoughts.
6 Comments
March 28, 2008 at 11:06 am
1. You don’t have to be vela to watch L&O. I watch it all the time.
2. I’d choose my spouse. even if it was a 1% chance of survival.
3. The blogosphere is all about freedom of speech (apparently) so stop apologising for hurting people’s feelings!!!
March 28, 2008 at 12:06 pm
What a tough one.. If the little one wasnt in my life, I would have said spouse without missing a heartbeat, but now that she is, its much more difficult. But then I guess my argument is not valid because I would not ‘KNOW’ my little one as I do now because its still a foetus.
Not sure if I am making any sense here…. but my answer is spouse still.
March 30, 2008 at 8:40 pm
30in2005 - i watch 7-8 episodes of L&O per day these days. I truly am vela.
SilentOne - you are making total sense. glad to know you agree with my POV.
March 31, 2008 at 5:16 am
for my comment, refer to 30in2005’s
but, this is not all black and white. there are some situations in life where I believe you cant completely and definitively know what you would do, till you are faced with it…
March 31, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Shakester, welcome! I completely agree with you. I wasn’t saying that there was a right and a wrong answer in this situation. I was just annoyed by the holier-than-thou attitude adopted by the show. The message being sent was that it was totally wrong for the husband to pick the wife over his unborn child. That seemed a bit unfair to me.
March 31, 2008 at 4:42 pm
7-8 episodes of L&O. That is truly vela
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