Your Plan Doesn’t Have A Leg To Stand On
FLORIDA, HOSPITAL, USA | HEALTHY | NOVEMBER 1, 2017
(My aunt is pregnant with my cousin after years of miscarriages and a stillbirth. She’s at one of her ultrasounds when the doctor notices something weird.)
Doctor: “I think your baby is malformed.”
Aunt: “What are you talking about?”
Doctor: “I mean she isn’t developing properly. She might be born disfigured.”
Aunt: “How bad are we talking? She’s not going to die, is she?”
Doctor: “I can’t tell for certain, but it looks like she’s missing a leg.”
Aunt: “What?! What do you mean my baby is missing a leg?!”
Doctor: “I mean unless it’s hidden somewhere, it’s gone.”
(Over the next few weeks the doctor subtly implied over and over again that she should terminate the pregnancy due to the malformation. She ended up switching doctors when he got fed up and straight up told her to terminate because apparently allowing a child to exist with a deformity was akin to abuse. When she gave birth, my cousin indeed only had one leg. She learned how to walk with a prosthetic at a very young age and is now 23, athletic, and happy, and you wouldn’t know she only had one leg if she didn’t show you her prosthetic. We’re all still horrified that the doctor thought terminating her in the name of “protecting” her was the only course of action, especially after my aunt and uncle had suffered so many previous losses.)