Until Months Later

When we first become doctors, we have to declare whether we are objectors. This has certain implications. If we choose to be objectors, we say that we are against abortions and we would not do anything to “facilitate” the process.

When a woman who is more than 14 weeks’ pregnant, and she decides that she cannot or does not want the baby, she will need to undergo MTTP (Mid-Trimester Termination of Pregnancy). Prostaglandin tablets would be inserted into the vagina to the cervical region (cervix… not the head and neck region!). Basically, the purpose is to “induce” labour and wait for the woman to have a “miscarriage”. The woman would suffer contraction pains and eventually, the foetus would be “aborted” through the vagina. Just like giving birth.

At 14 weeks plus, the foetus looks like a small baby. I am an objector. I did not participate in the insertion of the prostaglandin tablets. But when the baby got aborted, my job would require me to take photos of the abortus, to fill in some forms etc. There were times that I had to take samples from the abortus. I had to use a pair of scissors or scalpel to remove part of the body. And there were times that the abortus was still moving.

The tiny chest wall moved up and down. Those lungs were never meant to breathe air until months later. The skin was never meant to be exposed to room temperature until months later. The foetus was supposed to live in darkness until months later. Instead of being swaddled in a nice cuddly blanket and placed in a cot, this foetus was lying on a “green surgical cloth” placed in a kidney dish. Instead of happy parents taking pictures of the newborn, welcoming him/her into the world, this foetus had a complete stranger taking pictures of him/her to be filed in some folder somewhere.

Very soon, the foetus’ movement would stop. It was expected to stop. But those moments seemed like eternity. Oddly enough, I was never paged to do something else during those moments, no matter how busy the call was before and after. It was awkward, being in the cold treatment room with the dying/dead foetus. The foetus could make no sound. But I would like to think that if the laws of the universe & of physics could change, I would hear weeping.

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