A good friend mentioned to me today that she’d seen a poster advertising a seminar about motherhood. The poster had a close-up of a newborn baby. It got her thinking about the perceived first moment of motherhood and how pro-abortion politics clash with the politics of miscarriage. It got me thinking too. In order to be pro-abortion, which I am, campaigners often combat the pro-life position, arguing that motherhood doesn’t begin until the baby is born. But those of us who have had miscarriages know that the grief you feel is the grief of a parent who has lost a child s/he never got the chance to meet. Does this mean that adopting a pro-abortion position will mean denying the pain of miscarriage? The two positions cannot be incompatible since I am pro-choice. But I have also had a miscarriage.
Ultrasound images are highly emotive. Pro-life campaigners have used them to show a baby’s character in the womb. Recently they have begun to use 3D ultrasound images, which can be very touching. I recently went to a talk by a young researcher about the phenomenon of the 3D image and she explained that she found them very ‘seductive’ in the sense that they threatened her pro-abortion position. Why does this have to be the case? Why do we have to deny the spiritual link in order to justify its severance? I think it’s better to say: yes, a spiritual link exists between expectant parents and their unborn child, whether the sense of this link is welcomed or avoided. But there are times and circumstances where a new baby would be a real problem. So abortion takes place.
Chasing tales 
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