11-16-2022, 07:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-17-2022, 04:15 AM by RiverNotch.)
Against False Dichotomies
There's two kinds of neural tube defect
caused by the lack of folic acid
in a mother's diet, or else by failure
of an embryo's cilia to transport
the relevant nutrient
to where it's needed. First,
and most common, Spina Bifida,
where the tissue around or of the lower spine
is not entirely closed by vertebrae
and may even bulge out like a zit.
Worse still is when it's that other mass
of central nervous tissue left exposed
and through the natural currents of the womb
the regions of the brain responsible
for memory, thought, and sensation
are sloughed off like a bit
of dandruff. This condition,
Anencephaly, is almost always fatal,
although there are those occasions where the child
is born breathing, crying, seeking out
its mother's touch, its mother's milk, and only
after a number of days does its soul
realize its place in the body
is worse than a prison, there are
no doors nor windows, so the heart
spontaneously stops.
The child dies. At no point would the mother
think she just lost a mere mass of cells
or some kind of parasite -- she lost
a child -- and yet
to subject her to the sight
of exposed brains, of a skull
less than half the proper size,
of a struggle for breath for which
the only miracle
is a death by hours, not days---
If all this was brought about
by our sinful nature, then
what use have we for your
misguided condemnation?
There's two kinds of neural tube defect
caused by the lack of folic acid
in a mother's diet, or else by failure
of an embryo's cilia to transport
the relevant nutrient
to where it's needed. First,
and most common, Spina Bifida,
where the tissue around or of the lower spine
is not entirely closed by vertebrae
and may even bulge out like a zit.
Worse still is when it's that other mass
of central nervous tissue left exposed
and through the natural currents of the womb
the regions of the brain responsible
for memory, thought, and sensation
are sloughed off like a bit
of dandruff. This condition,
Anencephaly, is almost always fatal,
although there are those occasions where the child
is born breathing, crying, seeking out
its mother's touch, its mother's milk, and only
after a number of days does its soul
realize its place in the body
is worse than a prison, there are
no doors nor windows, so the heart
spontaneously stops.
The child dies. At no point would the mother
think she just lost a mere mass of cells
or some kind of parasite -- she lost
a child -- and yet
to subject her to the sight
of exposed brains, of a skull
less than half the proper size,
of a struggle for breath for which
the only miracle
is a death by hours, not days---
If all this was brought about
by our sinful nature, then
what use have we for your
misguided condemnation?