Unfathomable...

Baby boy's body eaten by dogs (Trinidad Express - Thursday, January 8th 2009)

The partially eaten body of a newborn baby boy was found in bushes along Brazil Road in Wallerfield late Tuesday night.
The gruesome discovery was made by a couple on their way home from pan practice around 11.30 p.m.
The couple, who requested anonymity, told the Express that they saw a stray dog nibbling on something that looked unfamiliar and decided to investigate further.
When they found the body, the stomach appeared to have been eaten away, but the baby looked fully developed. Shocked by the sight of the baby, who appeared to be of African descent, the couple immediately called the police.
Officers attached to the Arima Police Station are currently investigating, and were awaiting the autopsy results last night.

I heard about this story from a friend earlier, and was HORRIFIED! As a mother who cradled the unborn child in her belly before I was even showing, it is absolutely BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING how anyone could do this to a child. That a woman could give birth and discard her flesh and blood like a piece of garbage....I can't find the words to express how sick it makes me inside. All I could think about were the cries of this poor little baby boy as dogs...yes, dogs...ate at his little stomach. I pray to God that maybe the child was already dead and that is why the mother threw him away. That he didn't feel any pain as he left the earth.

I think of the outrage I feel at this little one being torn apart by an animal, yet women go to doctors every day to do just that and society condones it. I had a conversation with someone recently and we were talking about abortion. I am pro-life, and was explaining about the pain receptors in the fetus that are often already developed in first trimester abortions, so the child feels everything that is happening. The mother gets pain treatment but the fetus gets none. And what is this "fetus" anyway? When a woman discovers she is pregnant, does she run to her man and say, "Honey, there is a "fetus" in my belly"? No, she says something more like, "I'm going to have a "baby". Most of the time she already sees the person growing inside as a "baby". She imagines her life with said "baby". Thus is the source of her joy...or fear. This person I was speaking to - a woman at that - viewed the fetus is a "thing". A "nothing" she said. A nothing??!!! Lord have mercy! So how would you like it if your mother felt you were a "nothing"? All I could do was shake my head and end the conversation. Maybe when she becomes a mother her view will be different. I remember planning for my pregnancy, taking vitamins months in advance to get my body ready to carry the child that would come. Conception, even in a healthy, fertile woman, is a miracle in itself because a woman's body is so hostile to a man's sperm. It's Nature's way of making sure the strongest and best reach that egg. I remember reading every week about the amazing developments the little so-called "nothing" in my belly was making. Growing by leaps and bounds every day! I used to receive a weekly email that detailed all the changes my baby was making and I was amazed week to week at the little miracle of life happening inside me. I have seen pictures of aborted "nothings" and the little arms and legs, already almost perfectly formed at 8 weeks - arms that would have encircled a mother's neck and legs that would have run to meet her. Precious little lives, discarded like trash. I am in tears every time I hear stories like this.

A close friend and his girlfriend just welcomed their son this week. I saw him today and he was just beaming, sharing photos of his son. But what struck me is how he spoke about what she went through to bring him into the world and how touched he was and how he respected her strength for it. Ladies we are chosen vessels - we are the conduits by which life begins. That is an awesome blessing and an awesome responsibility not to be taken lightly. You carry life in your belly and it is so precious. Don't throw it away. Treasure and nurture what is inside you. Not just in your physical eggs, but the mental and spiritual eggs you have inside. Be careful who you choose to expose your eggs to for fertilization. Not everyone is worthy to enter those sacred places. A preacher once told me that when you invite a man inside it's as if he is entering the holy of holies - akin to the sacred place behind the altar that only those in old Hebrew times who were covanented to enter could go. That is your inner woman not to be shared for the pleasure of the moment. In that moment you are not just receiving his body, but his spirit. Sex is a taste of heaven, but through it some of the results are hell on earth. Ladies, protect your bodies and guard your hearts. But I digress...

My view is that once you are pregnant there is only one option - have the baby. I was fortunate enough to have planned the birth of my daughter with her father, and I understand that women sometimes are not "ready", but I don't believe we have the right to determine if someone - a little defenseless someone at that - lives or dies. Only God is the giver of life, and only He should take it away. Abortion is murder. Plain and simple. But that's my view. I know there are shades of gray in this discussion, but not for me. I was reading Today's Christian Woman (a magazine I subscribe to) and they interviewed Kate Gosslein of "John and Kate Plus 8" fame. When they discovered she was pregnant with sextuplets the doctor suggested selective reduction (they would basically pick which babies to keep). John and Kate decided this was not an option. People who take fertility treatments and end up with multiple pregnancies do this all the time, and it's ok. What the... What is wrong with our society? There is this whole jumpoff mentality, but when you get pregnant as a result you go for the quick fix, or if you have the baby you throw him away? I personally know women who have had abortions, and not one of them truly feels they made the right choice. It's a hard enough thing to take a life, but when it's the life of your own child you are never the same again.

Then there is the argument...what if the mother can't care for the child or what if the situation with the father is not ideal? Well, give the child to someone who can care for him/her. There are free clinics and agencies who care for babies whose mothers cannot care for them. I don't know about Trinidad...I don't know this mother's situation. But my heart cries out for this little boy who met such a tragic end so soon after he came into the world. I don't know what to say to this mother who was probably confused and afraid. But still I am outraged. Still I can't wrap my head around this.

Ladies, control yourselves. Think hard and long about who you have a child with. Maybe TMI but I've taken dual methods of birth control into play because I was by no means playing the "oops" game. Hey - I won't bury my head in the sand. No matter how many precautions you take, it happens, but I wasn't taking any chances, and I've always been vocal about my views on what I would do if I did conceive. And I was having my baby. I think a WOMAN is ultimately responsible for her reproductive capacity. Yes, it takes two to make a baby, but it only takes one to carry it, and if you are not ready but you want to reap the benefits of the baby-making process without the results, you better do everything in your power to make sure that you are protecting yourself. Unfortunately, it's the woman who bares the brunt of social ostracism should she find herself in a "situation". The man is, after all, a man. I don't know what the fix is for this. But I hope we can get to the point where life is sacred again. Where our precious little ones are protected, even before they are born.