Synchronicity or a trend? Two posts in my feed-reader today which feature forced-birthers using talking fetuses as the sure-fire strategy to convince women that abortion is always always always wrong.
Kevin T Keith (yay, a post from Kevin!) at Sufficient Scruples lets loose his inner ranter in response to Joe Carter making “one of his not-infrequent visits to fetus-fetish loopyland”.
Tracey at Unapologetically Female is not amused by an oh-so-cute free-floating cartoon fetus that’s meant to be a topical funny online comic.
So, who’s spotted the talking fetus tactic elsewhere recently?
Categories: Miscellaneous
So my plans for writing today didn’t quite work out 
Otterday! And Open Thread 
The top pregnancy ticker at Baby-Gaga has a creepy talking fetus. Try both the “development” and “humor” options from the dropdown at the right hand side.
Examples:
“Gross! I’m already secreting urine! Good thing I’m generous enough to stay in here and save on diapers.”
“My Mommy’s uterus is almost the size of a grapefruit, which she’d like to throw at Daddy right now.”
“I’m 4-6 mm, my vocal chords are forming & my tiny heart is beating & circulating blood! I’m 5 weeks & 4 days old, only 241 days to go!”
“I’m 3.5″ CRL & weigh 1.5 oz; I’m practicing smiling, grimacing, frowning & squinting! I’m 13 weeks & 5 days old; only 184 days to go!”
I’m 62″, 170 lbs., I breathe autonomously, I have a master’s degree, and I like fruity martinis. What do I win?
A punchbowl of fruity martinis?
I think the talking fetus on a site that’s celebrating a planned/wanted pregnancy is kinda forgivable, although that particular one seems especially twee.
Bringing it into political op-ed pages though? It seems to be yet another manifestation of the idea that if only women seeking abortions realised Just How Cute Babies Are then they wouldn’t want a TOP.
Yet again, the women don’t know what they really want card.
I was thinking about this topic just the other day after having had to explain more stuff about pregnancy to my daughters. I realized that, taking a leaf from the exellent discussion of passive tense and ownership on this site, that I reallydon’t think we should *ever* use the word “fetus” independent of the woman around it. Its ok to say “the fetus in the petrie dish” if there is such a thing around but from now on I’m going to only say “the woman’s fetus.” Because there is no independent “fetus” in either a physical or an existential sense. I don’t say “the kidney” when I mean “my” kidney–in fact I would never refer to any body part or organ in any person without marking its ownership.
If I go into the hospital for an operation there is some discussion of “the kidney” and its function but when it comes to deciding what is to be done with *my* kidney or my lungs or my limbs the discussion always turns on what is best for me as a integral individual. The kidney doesn’t have any rights and its not discussed as though it did.
Time we cleaned up our language and forced the issue.
aimai
tigtog: Thanks for unearthing even more creepy instances of this weird phenomenon! Isn’t it disturbing? I made a followup post linking here and also to a great article about the politics of fetal imagery.
aimai: Beautifully put!