The unexpected pregnancy

 It was a hot dry evening in Avissawella. I had seen a couple of patients in my surgery at home. A young couple remained outside with a nine month old child. I called them into my consultation room. They walked in with a lot of hesitation. After the wife carrying the child was seated on the chair, I asked them what the problem was. The very hesitant answer from the husband was that there was no disease to treat but a social problem. I asked what it was. The timid wife took up the story and said that the pretty smiling playful daughter she was carrying was 9 months old. She was a working mother. She had unprotected sex and had missed her periods for 2 months. Pregnancy testing had shown her to be pregnant. She wanted to know, showing a lot of shyness, how she could terminate her pregnancy. This is a perennial problem faced by doctors all over the world. Starting with the problem of infanticide in early tribal customs to the use of plant products like papaw to prevent or terminate pregnancy the lore in this area is huge. Giants in medical history like Hippocrates, the father of western medicine have referred to the practice of abortion, to scrupulously to condemn it.

            This evolved into a present day system where abortion is permitted if it filled certain criteria. But the core of the problem is to define the viability of an entity in the product of conception.

            The Buddhists hold that the entity is present at the moment of conception when a sperm fertilizes the ovum. The actions of a past existence conglomerate to produce this entity.

            What is the view in Hinduism?

            What is the view in Christianity?

            What is the view in Islam?

            I inquired from the couple what religion they practiced. They told me Buddhism. I wanted to be gentle on them in their perceived adversity. I asked them to explain, according to the precepts taught in Buddhism how a child is conceived. I told them that it was the result of past karmic forces that a child is conceived. The past karmic action would have had a strong attachment to them as a parent, sibling, a good friend etc. It was reforming that link through samsara. It is your duty to receive it with a happy heart and open arms. That child had come to them seeking shelter. Would you turn away a friend from your house.  Do not turn it away. Try to protect it and give your love. Do not even dream of destroying it because the entity in the womb would perceive it. Radiate loving-kindness to it and welcome it to your family, I concluded.

            There were tears in the eyes of the mother with the child. She hid her face from me using the nine month old infant as a shield. I let her cry a bit then I told her, I understood how she felt. Her difficulties as a working mother had made her do this. I said look at the positive side of things. This new one would bring joy and happiness to her to overcome her material difficulties. There were so many mothers who after years of marriage yearn for a child. She had won a sweep ticket. Hold onto it.

            In conclusion I told her that I do not fault her for thinking about a termination. But from this moment I asked her to tread a different path of acceptance. I could see joy in her face when she left my surgery. I saw them walking away from my surgery, holding hands.