WOULD YOU REDUCE ?????

ABORT ABORT ABORT

"i already have a three-year-old and money is tight. one more is all we can handle"

context: paige believes that having twins would be overwhelming and strain their finances.

voiced: paige’s victimised, helpless voice.

perspective: paige’s perspective being that selective reduction serves as an escape route

“in vitro fertilisation”

context: paige is educated on the details of ivf procedures, while also conveying how she is well-off enough as she can afford ivf.

"we took trips and found time for exercise and going to the movies"

context: paige is currently living comfortably, being able to go our often, and has the time for other activities outside of work, referring to how she is likely middle class and enjoys this comfortability.

"we'd have to leave our beloved neighbourhood behind for cheaper rents and better public schools"

context: paige lives comfortably at the moment, and could afford luxuries. she enjoys materialism, showing how she is apart of western / first world countries and is well-off.

attitude: helpless attitude towards selective reduction, as she portrays that she has no other choice but to go through with it.

perspective: paige sees going through with the multiple pregnancy as destructive to her life, and perceives selective reduction as a way to escape this fate, focusing on the negative aspects that would be brought along if she kept both twins.

voice: victimised and helpless voice, where she is attempting to create empathy by listing off everything she is emotionally attached to. portrays herself as helpless as she contemplates over losing these things that are close to her.

"i added the loss of my income, necessary to meet our expenses"

context: paige does work, meaning it is a double-income household, which, considering the article was published in the 2010s, likely meant they were quite wealthy when compared to the lower-class.

"we could never afford full-time help"

context: considering how this is included relates to how currently, paige could likely afford full-time help, further relating to how she is well-off, and seemingly just wants to live more comfortably then spend money on extra children.

"the death of our parents, financial struggles, our own mortality"

context: the inclusion of both the phrase of referring to her parents and financial struggles asserts that paige likely sees her parents (and her husband’s) as sources of money, adding to the idea that all paige actually cares about is materialism and maintaining her wealth, rather than just simply caring for her parents.

"'well, we have a boy at home, so i guess we would prefer a girl.'"

context: glimpses of materialism that are present in the life of paige and the environment around her. this want contrasts directly with more traditional and conservative families, who would usually desire for more boys than girls, but the desire for a girl in this context emphasises how paige sees her children more as accessories, and that paige herself is in a comfortable situation where prolonging the family name is hardly important.

"we didn't feel obliged to mark the occasion with flowers or candle-lit dinners"

context: this indicates that paige and her husband prioritize practicality over tradition or sentimentality, suggesting a focus on material concerns rather than emotional expressions. in a western society, where family is less connected, paige has less reason to prioritise her family connections, which is further shown with her opinions on her unborn children.

"'but neither of us even like our brothers and sisters that much.'"

context: paige is apart of a western society where family is more disjointed and disconnected and relationships with siblings often lack closeness or support. this statement reinforces the theme of materialism and indifference to traditional familial bonds in paige's life.

"i couldn't imagine accepting my mother's offer, anyway. for better or worse, people in my family take care of themselves"

context: this reflects paige's strong sense of independence and individualism, highlighting her belief in self-reliance over familial support or dependence. it illustrates her disconnection from traditional family roles and expectations in her upbringing.

"selective reduction was orwellian; i knew i was ending what could be a life"

context: paige has some knowledge over george orwell, and therefore dystopian stories where life is valued specifically only for its usefulness. it also shows the context in which society sees selective reduction as bad and inhumane, which is why paige seems to struggle with her eventual choice.

attitude: she feels conflicted and burdened by the implications of her decision.

voice: portrayed as helpless as faced with a moral dilemma, but also slowly depicts her not seeing the foetus as actually alive and so still meaningless to her.

"i'd witnessed the step-by-step process from blip to eight pounds"

context: shows the discrepancy for when human life actually starts, where paige seems to reflect the notions that the child’s life starts as soon as they are conceived.

"feeling as if i were searching for a back-alley abortion" and "sophie's choice"

context: selective reduction is highly stigmatised in western society and is seen as morally incorrect.

attitude: paige feels a deep sense of shame and fear associated with her decision, equating it with the stigma around unsafe medical procedures. This highlights her inner conflict and societal pressure regarding reproductive choices, portryaing her as having a helpless / hopeless attitude

voice: feels villainised and discriminated against.

"'don't tell anyone,' they advised. 'if you already mentioned that you were pregnant with twins, say that the other one vanished.'"

context: paige’s reluctance to go through with selective reduction stems from the discrimination that those who go through with it face.

"foetuses" and "sacs: "vaguely human outlines"

context: while some view foetuses as alive and should be considered so, some discourage this view by labelling them as objects, of which paige does frequently, also emphasising her emotional detachment.

"our twins weren't apart of god's plan"

context: religious connotations, projecting the idea that paige is apart of western societies, where christianity envelops western culture, even if the people are not religious themselves.

"'could you say a prayer while they're doing it ?'"

context: in a context where religious undertones are mixed within western culture, and serves as a way to guilt trip those who aren’t even apart of the religion, this shows how paige is weighed down by the society that surrounds her, and plays into her views on morality.

attitude: helpless and feels guilty towards choosing selective reduction, seeing it as morally incorrect but choosing this avenue anyway. she is asking for forgiveness, showing her perception of selective reduction.

voice: connection to religion, specifically christianity, which can make her out to be a victim depending on the audience, as they sympathise with her acknowledgement of god.

"dr. h's reaction suggested that anyone desperate enough to visit him would take a kid any way she could get one"

perspective: creates the power dynamic that she is vulnerable and without a sense of control or order. this also suggests that dr. h is a bad doctor, correlating to how she is perceived as ‘trapped’.

"by the time i was able to have an embryo implanted, who knew how much older, and less likely to conceive i'd be ?"

attitude: helpless attitude, saying that she has to risk the chance of a multiple pregnancy due to her age.

voice: helpless, victimised voice.

"i felt panicked, unprepared, and doubtful about my ability to handle what fate had thrown at me"

perspective: selective reduction is an escape route from fate, and constantly blames fate for the multiple pregnancy and not her own actions.

attitude: blames it on fate to take the blame off her, protraying herself more so as the victim that had no say.

voice: uses emotive language to convey how she feels helpless and not in control.

“he’d breathed not a word of this to me”

voice: blames dr. h for her multiple pregnancy, telling the audience how she was uninformed and kept in the dark about the ivf procedure, representing herself as not in control, misled, and is therefore a victim.

"now i was horrified at the idea of terminating one of the foetuses inside of me"

voice: generates empathy fro her character, presenting to the audience how she has a sense of morality and does care for the child. she also attempts to use euphemism to create disconnection from the child’s life, lessening the impact of her decisions.

"preserving our lifestyle seemed like a self-centered reason to deprive our son of a sibling"

voice: portrays her moral code and supposed care for her child, hoping for the audience to feel a sense of empathy for her with this statement, where she contrasts her and her husband’s opinions to make her seem like the better person. it also adds onto her sense of helplessness, as she only wanted to provide more to her son but is now trapped.

"this kept me awake at night, inflected my dreams with shadowy predators"

attitude: emphasises paige’s inner turmoil regarding the situation she is in, where she feels hopeless and stuck, further portraying herself as a victim that is constantly taunted.

voice: helpless and a victim, with the use of imagery to portray this.

perspective: due to her mental struggles, it is evident she feels that selective reduction may be morally wrong, but still sees it as a way out of her situation.

"it came out sounding like an admonition"

voice: portrays her continuous paranoia over the twins and how she perceives herself as being judged, especially by dr. h, where she feels that she is a victim, or she believes that there is no happy way out.

"i seriously doubted that this fragile equilibrium could withstand the stress"

perspective: she had to go through with selective reduction, and saw it as a necessity, doubting her world around her to withstand the birth of these twins. this also serves to show how she sees selective reduction as the only way as to preserve her comfortable lifestyle.

voice: portrays her as helpless and only wanting to save what she already has. she believes the multiple pregnancy will ruin her life, and so presents herself as a victim that is only trying to survive.

attitude: helpless attitude.

"i entertained dark daydreams of miscarrying both children as a way to get out of this intractable situation"

perspective: the death of at least one child will make her life so much better, and is why she continuously resorts back to selective reduction.

voice: calling the situation intractable continues her pursuit of calling herself helpless and without control over the sitaution.

"could the proximity of decaying foetal tissue infuse my womb with the spectre of death ?"

voice: almost seems distraught in her way of thinking. use of rhetorical question shows overthinking and her perceived sense of helplessness. the use of diction also lessens the impact of her ending one of the baby’s lives.

"but i was certain that wasn't going to happen"

voice: emphasises her distraught nature later on, where she is no longer secure in terms of fate.

"tears pooling in the corners of my eyes"

voice: feels guilt over her actions and is helpless, perceiving it as she has to do this ‘inhumane’ act.

“‘given your age, we need to be aggressive.’”

DR. H

perspective: the child’s life is more important than the parents, shown by how he prioritizes the likeliness of the conception of the child rather than the mother’s own wishes. the use of the word ‘aggression’ highlights this lack of care for the mother.

voice: shows how flippant he is, not fully comprehending or telling paige the health consequences that could come with a multiple pregnancy.

"outdated copies of fit pregnancy and parenting"

DR. H

perspective: values the child’s health and wants the pregnancy to go well, regardless of whether or not his methods are outdated or forceful.

voice: he himself is outdated and unwilling to evolve with time, which can be seen as unprofessional, flippant and uncaring.

"'congratulations,' it came out sounding like an admonition"

DR. H

perspective: he judges her for considering getting rid of one of the twins, and forces her to conform to the idea of keeping both.

attitude: his dissuasive attitude towards selective reduction, where he tries to be optimistic or force her to be happy for the multiple pregnancy.

voice: does not care for her opinion, and judges her, making him out to be callous.

“he’d breathed not a word of this to me”

DR. H

voice: uncaring and callous towards paige, where he manipulates her medication as to get more children out of her, rather than listening to her requests. it is also a risky move, contributing to the idea that he is flippant.

"and said sternly: 'start getting attached.'"

attitude: does not care for how she feels, and only cares for the birth of the twins. he is continuously dissuading her from considering selective reduction.

perspective: selective reduction is unnecessary, the child is already alive, and so you should allow it to prosper.

voice: does not care for her conflicted emotions, and only forces her to confront what she has been fearing.

"but dr. h contradicted her: the odds of losing ... about 10 percent"

attitude: ultimately attempts to dissuade paige from selective reduction, consistently focusing on the health and the survival of the baby and not how the mother is feeling.

persepctive: sees selective reduction as a nuisance and as harmful to the ongoing pregnancy, emphasizing the need to prioritize the unborn child's well-being over the mother's concerns.

"...pulled back from me with the abruptness of someone who's just learned he's been betrayed"

HUSBAND

perspective: the multiple pregnancy to him is a threat to his comfortability and current lifestyle.

"my husband was convinced that twins would radically change our lives for the worse"

HUSBAND

attitude: selective reduction is necessary to continue with his comfortable lifestyle, and so is desperate about paige receiving the treatment.

voice: is firm and decisive on the matter that selective reduction would ruin their lives and is strictly against the twins.

perspective: selective reduction is necessary.

"'i told you when you started all this...'"

HUSBAND

perspective: calling out paige exclusively and pushing all blame on her, antagonizing the pregnancy. values control, and the pregnancy is the contradiction to his comfort. his accusatory tone connotes his lack of comfortability and his increase in stress.

voice: he says this statement as an assertion, where he is firm in his tone with ‘i told you’.

"unlike me, he had been reluctant to have a second child"

HUSBAND

perspective: shows a sense of unease about expanding the family, indicating that he values the stability of their current family dynamics over the challenges of having another child. his reluctance reflects a desire to maintain control and avoid disruption to their existing lifestyle.

"but for him, there really was no choice"

HUSBAND

perspective: shows selective reduction as a necessity.

attitude: desperate attitude towards selective reduction, and how they must resort to it.

voice: portrays his firm and decisive voice.

"and my husband and i fought over sharing the responsibilities of one child"

HUSBAND

perspective: fighting over the responsibility insists that neither like to take accountability and would rather comfortability.

"'can you imagine ? it's like there will always be this secret from the remaining one.'"

SISTER-IN-LAW

voice: this statement indirectly makes those who choose selective reduction as stupid or obscene, ruling her as harsh and judgemental.

perspective: selective reduction is selfish and that you should not separate family.

"i'd heard her argue just as fervently for a women's right to choose”

SISTER-IN-LAW

attitude: hypocritical, judgemental attitude towards abortion and selective reduction, where she is equally passionate about either subject, just in contradictory ways.

voice: she is outspoken and loud, which can translate to her being ahrsh in terms of how she presents her opinions.

"you were making a 'sophie's choice' between siblings, something a good mother would only do with a gun to her head"

SISTER-IN-LAW

perspective: continuation f the sister in law disagreeing with separating family, and that selective reduction is selfish.

attitude: the sister in law perceives selecttive reduction more as a burden, and sees it as inhumane.