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The Ultrasound: a Savior of Lives

Let us get to the point as it is always topical.

In April 2007, the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper published a national survey by the Datafolha Institute conducted in 211 townships addressing the issue of a new profile of Brazilian families. One of the articles, written by Luís Fernando Viana, reports that from 1998 to the survey’s publication date, rejection towards abortion had risen by 10 percent. Some scholars say that the popularization of ultrasound technology contributed to these results. Thank God!

According to anthropologist Maria Luiza Heilborn, Coordinator of the Latin American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights and Professor at the Social Medicine Institute of the University of Rio de Janeiro, “when recent imaging technologies designed to capture images of the human fetus showed an image resembling that of a human being, a great change came over the social imagination. That which was once hidden, literally became visible. . . . When women think of having an abortion, it’s because many of them had never considered a fetus as being an actual person. After the examination, they are no longer expecting simply a child, but a ‘Veronica’, a ‘Francis’.”

It is observed that excessive verbalization is no longer needed regarding an ethic attitude to defend the survival of defenseless beings. Ironically, technology, usually regarded as soulless, can actually reach hearts.

Bucket of blood

I always try to respect everyone’s opinion, however, may this conscience towards the preservation of life continually increase so that tragic situations never occur again, situations similar to the one taken from the O Mensageiro newspaper, reproduced by the André Luiz magazine, issue #7, in a text by Francisco Ferreira:

“Monsignor L. B. Lyra in an article entitled ‘Against the Heinous Law of Abortion’ narrates a testimony given by a nurse in a certain English hospital: ‘Before me is a small and impotent being, still connected to its mother by the umbilical cord. It was a boy, pink in color and very well formed. He remained there wailing, and when I touched him his hands flailed. It was a scene that challenged the maternal instinct of any woman and I, as a nurse, noticed how my own feelings were in turmoil.  That small being, however, was not given to its mother to be caressed and loved. Instead, it was thrown into a metal bucket, putting an end to a life that had hardly even begun’.”

It is not possible to imagine that a woman (or a man, for that matter) can remain unmoved witnessing such a scene. But in the end, the good soul that inhabits the hearts of women will lift the world from so much madness. They will put an end to the morbid culture that clouds the horizons of the Earth and that is extended to attitudes that, since the Arrhenius effect, cause global warming, for instance. The warnings that were contradicted for so long, which nonetheless did not prevent its advance, are now at this point: at this very moment (at the beginning of 2010), according to the international media, an enormous iceberg the size of Luxemburg has broken away from Antarctica after being impacted by another iceberg called B9B, adrift since 1987. If this continues, in a few years coastal cities may be flooded. 

The body of the baby belongs to the baby

She who carries within her the ability to give life cannot love death. As for the adolescent and/or single mothers, why not increase, in as many ways as possible, the help provided to them, with effective public policies instead of fighting the societal institutions assisting them, facilitating their access to the job market, so that they can raise their children?

In my book Mãezinha, deixe-me viver! [Oh Mother, Let Me Live!] (1987), I argued that: those who, unaware of certain spiritual factors, unfortunately still defend abortion, claiming that women are the owners of their own bodies, forget that, by the same reasoning, the body of the baby belongs to the baby. . .

Jesus, the Divine Prophet, came to Earth to save its creatures. This is the reason for our constant concern in defending Life.  

José de Paiva Netto is a writer, journalist, radio broadcaster, composer, and poet. He is the President of the Legion of Good Will (LGW), effective member of the Brazilian Press Association (ABI) and of the Brazilian International Press Association (ABI-Inter). Affiliated to the National Federation of Journalists (FENAJ), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Union of Professional Journalists of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the Union of Writers of Rio de Janeiro, the Union of Radio Broadcasters of Rio de Janeiro, and the Brazilian Union of Composers (UBC). He is also a member of the Academy of Letters of Central Brazil. He is an author of international reference in the concept and defense of the cause of Ecumenical Citizenship and Spirituality which, according to him, constitute “the cradle of the most generous values that are born of the Soul, the dwelling of the emotions and of the reasoning enlightened by intuition, the atmosphere that embraces everything that transcends the ordinary field of matter and comes from the elevated human sensitivity, such as Truth, Justice, Mercy, Ethics, Honesty, Generosity, and Fraternal Love.”