Fourteen giant new sculptures by Damien Hirst, that show the development of a child in the womb from foetus to birth, have been unveiled in front of the new $8 billion Sidra Women and Children’s hospital in Qatar.
These bronze figures are striking not only for their anatomical detail but also because they show graphically how intrauterine life is an integral part of normal human childhood.
The sculptures which are called The Miraculous Journey, start with an early foetus and finish with a newborn infant.
With the majesty of art, they bring light to the pregnant womb, and show the dignity of our first, most fragile stage of life up to birth. The final 14-metre-sized newborn infant sculpture has particularly raised eyebrows because it connects intrauterine life to the life of the child.
Hirst said: “Ultimately, the journey a baby goes through before birth is bigger than anything it will experience in its human life. I hope the sculpture will instil in the viewer a sense of awe and wonder at this extraordinary human process.” Hirst said the commissioning of the sculptures was a brave move for the Qatari Royal Family. The sculptures have been called provocative, not only because depiction of women is not allowed locally but also for the challenge they give to the mindset of those who accept abortion.
Medical advances are also challenging the “non-human” status given by pro-abortionists to children in the womb and modern intrauterine surgery is beginning to reduce childhood disability.
Medical advances are challenging the “non-human” status given by pro-abortionists to children in the womb
Intrauterine shunting for spina bifida doubles the rate of children walking independently at 30 months of age and decreases death. Great Ormond Street hospital in London recently introduced foetal surgery for this condition despite the necessity for surgery to be done before 25 weeks gestation and UK abortion activists clamouring for abortion to be available after 24 weeks.
Advances in three- and four-dimensional ultrasound and ultrafast MRI allow the detection of tiny abnormalities. Image- guided techniques are improving and expanding the indications for foetal therapy.
Ultrasound can also determine if the foetus is in distress and requires immediate surgery and at least four different operative procedures are available. For example, babies with airway compression are first anaesthetised separately to the mother and then given an artificial breathing tube to allow them to breathe on their own when they no longer have a placental blood flow at delivery.
This is called the “exit” procedure.
A third landmark for intrauterine child rights occurred recently when a premature baby born at 21 weeks of gestation (which is just halfway through normal pregnancy) has now reached her fourth birthday and is doing well and is independent.
Although she is the earliest gestation survival, the fact that this child is doing well confirms the continuum of life from within to outside the womb.
Foetal surgery is available in only a few centres around the world.
The University of California at San Francisco foetal surgery centre is the longest standing and now has a range of intrauterine surgical procedures. It is inevitable that this will increase as techniques and equipment improve.
Malta is in a unique situation to develop a centre for pre-natal foetal medicine and intrauterine surgery. It is the only country in Europe that does not allow abortion, and has an excellent standard of medicine and surgery.
Instead of being pushed into an untenable situation of pitting abortion against medical advances for children, Malta should jump over the competition and set up a prenatal medical centre with full surgical capabilities and take referrals from the rest of Europe.
Patrick Pullicino is a final year seminarian.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece