A Modest Proposal

There are many scourges beating upon the backs of the greater and suffering part of humankind, but none that has so much quiet cost as the agony of an unwanted child. Who can truly bear the forlorn thought of so many helpless innocents, abandoned and alone in their misery? The brutal killing of these children that takes place every day is unforgivable. But the other option, bringing a child into a cold world is not justice. It too is a crime.

Let us also spare a thought for the young woman, deprived of her naive right to a full life and a full pursuit of her happiness. Who can know the anguish of her heart as she cowers in the darkness of an impossible choice? Who could bear the soft cries of the infant slain? Who could bear the tragic cost of the ungrateful years of unloving? Sadly, society pays the price. The unloved and unwanted populate our prisons and leave a legacy of pain in their wake.

There is a solution. We have had it in our hands for some time, but only now, at our hour of desperate need, is it clear how to use this gift.

It is possible, very easily, to remove and preserve all of a female child's eggs. All of the eggs that would travel the path of potential birth over her whole life are present in the infant. All the potential unloved or murdered children of her posterity could be preserved until a child was wanted, until the mother's love unconditional was unleashed.

It is also now quite routine to fertilize eggs outside of a woman's body and to reimplant them into their natural environment so that a woman may fulfill her destined role as a mother. This process is so simple, so easy that expanding its benefits to all women, including the pre-implant screening of the developing fetus for defects, only makes perfect sense.

Combining these two technologies, technologies that we already possess, we could forever end the terrible crime of the unwanted and their murder, just as we could also end the daily crisis of the unloved child, the poor waif eternally waiting for a simple smile.

Girlchildren would have their eggs removed in a relatively painless procedure at any time in their first eight years. However, it is recommended that parents have this done soon after her birth before they take her home from the hospital as this reduces the trauma, much as with the circumcision of boychildren.

The eggs would be carefully frozen so that the child, now grown could exercise her motherhood. Centers for the Preservation of Fertility will house the rows of shining freezers containing the host of the unborn. Careful record keeping, perhaps tagged to each woman's individual DNA, will assure her that she can reclaim her eggs and her birthright as a loving mother at any time.

The time to put this proposal into action is now. Let us forever eliminate the unwanted and unloved and remove an awful plague from the prospect of humankind. Future generations will thank us.

With appreciation to Martha Burk for the inspiration. Thanks are also due to Porphyrogenitus, Glenn Reynolds and Armed Liberal.

Posted by Martial