Against False Dichotomies, v2

[RiverNotch]

Against False Dichotomies


There's two kinds of neural tube defect
caused by a lack of folic acid
in the mother's diet, or else by failure
of the embryo's cilia to transport

the acid 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 bulges out like some oversized
zit. Worse still
is when it's that other major 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 other 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 to breathe for which
the only miracle
is a death by hours, not days---

Against False Dichotomies


There's two kinds of neural tube defect
caused by a lack of folic acid
in the mother's diet, or else by failure
of the embryo's cilia to transport

the acid 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 bulges out like some oversized
zit. Worse still
is when it's that other major 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 other 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 to breathe 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?