If you don't like this diary I'll leave forever, never coming back, blah blah blah. Ok, now that that's out of the way I have something that's been bugging me. See, I watch this show, Lost, and it raises a political issue so strongly and strangely, and yet no one talks about it. Granted, it's just a pulp sci-fi show, but, it's not like people don't talk about it. It's popular all over the world.
Maybe it has been talked about here, I don't come that often anymore. I am taking a break from most politics (well, not local). In fact, if I break any current rules, forgive me. But is this about Abortion and the TV show Lost.
Now, if you are not familiar with Lost, I'm not trying to sell the show. I can't imagine why you would care about this, unless you are particularly concerned with possibly anti-choice themes in popular media. So, I'm going to assume you have seen the show. I'm curious what you think about the issue.
So then, as you'll know, there is an issue with childbirth on the island. Pregnant women die if their child was concieved on the island... in the second trimester. The more I think about this I think it must have been mentioned here. Perhaps people will be like "it's only a show", I know, "Fountainhead" is only a book.
But I'm ahead of myself. This is a world wide phenomenon, this show. And no one, ever, mentions the possibility of aborting the babies to save the lives of the mothers. I brought the issue up in a formum about the show once... no one really even got it.
Right now I'm down with the flu, and I have been watching me some Lost, I love pulp sci-fi... it's pretty good for that genre... and all the silly mysteries are entertaining to a sci-fi lover even if I know a better sort of sci-fi that's actually literature (Lem, LeGuin, H.G.Wells, etc).
On topic: I yesterday watched a season three (iirc) episode titled, "DOC", which stands for "Date of Conception". The tension revolves around that fact that babies conceived on the island, lead to fatal pregnancies, and Sun, who is pregnant, might have gotten pregnant off island, from a lover, or on island, from her husband. She could not concieve with her husband off island (they are almost explicit that it's Jin's sperm count, which, btw, the island enhances, odd thing to get into a story line, but as I said the fetility issue is big, there is a whole character devoted to the issue).
Sun even mentions the obvious dilemma... she loses either way, either the baby is not Jin's, and he will find out about her indiscretion although now they are in love again, or it is Jin's, and evidently she will die. She's there with a DOCTOR, a fertility expert and OBGYN (or equiv, not sure they say)... doing the ultrasound to determine the date of conception. The doctor says nothing except that she's sorry. She's sorry... that now Sun will have to die.
In a later episode, good news, they are getting rescued, Sun will live, but Sun decides she doesn't believe the fatality thing, doesn't think the people have come to rescue them, and she wants to go hide in the jungle with some other survivors that don't trust the rescuers. Juliet (the doctor, why am I telling you this, you know) goes so far as to tell Jin about Sun's affair, just to be a jerk, make Jin go back to the beach where they are to be rescued, hoping Sun will follow and leave the island.
Hello... those people were not there to rescue them, they were a mortal danger, as sure as staying on the island. So... where's the recommendation, doc? "Sorry, in this case, you die." Only the most psychotic anti-abortion nuts think that way, ever.
Sun cries a combination of "finally we have a baby coming" and "I'm going to die". I thought it was good acting. But I'm thinking, um... HELLO!? why not an abortion. And yes I thought it the first time I saw the show (just started watching in the break before season five)
Now, granted it's a remote island, but again, I'm assuming you've seen the show, they've got a full complements of medical supplies, they do an appendectomy, and in DOC as I said they determine the date of conception using a full on Ultrasound machine, Juliet is a fertility doctor with not just doctor supplies, but a full lab. Abortion is not difficult when done by a professional, I feel it's obvious enough to not have to say. But there I said it. WTF?!
I mean, even among the anti-choice crowd, "life of the mother" is a very common and obvious reason. Many people wonder about the many mysteries on Lost, now to be solved, if at all, in the final season. There are time travel mysteries, myterious smokey monsters (turns out the polar bears had a very mundane explanation... but not their appearance in Tunisia)... but for me, the biggest myster of Lost, that I would like to see explained, is why not save the mother's life?