A child or a biomaterial? An American woman has published a photo of her stillborn son
40-year-old Sharran Sutherland from Fair Grove, Missouri, had a premature birth at 14 weeks of pregnancy. The baby was stillborn, and the grieving mother buried him in a flower pot. The American woman shared photos of her son, because she does not want to put up with the fact that doctors called her son "medical waste".
40-year-old Sharran Sutherland has experienced real grief. Her son, whom her parents were going to name Miran, was stillborn at 14 weeks.
Legally, in some countries, the fetus is not considered a child under 20 weeks. This means that Miran would have been disposed of with the rest of the biological medical waste.
However, Sharran and her husband Michael intervened and took their son's body home. There he lay in the refrigerator for a week until the couple decided exactly how he should be buried.
They chose a flower pot, and the boy found his eternal rest under a hydrangea bush.
Sharran, who now has 11 children, admits that despite the grief she has experienced, she is grateful to fate for the opportunity to give birth to Miran, hold him in her arms and say goodbye to her son.
Due to the legal status of the fetus, the parents were unable to organize a full-fledged funeral for their son.
Sharran decided to post a photo of Miran. Despite the early term, the fetus is fully formed.
Sharran could barely come to terms with the loss, the last goodbye helped her in this. The baby was only 10 centimeters long and weighed 26 grams.
Doctors recommended Sharran to remove the fetus surgically when the sonogram showed that the baby's heart was not beating, but the woman preferred to give birth to him naturally 173 days before the appointed date.
When she turned to the funeral home with a question about how to conduct the funeral, she was refused. The director recommended that the couple bury the baby on their own, in a box.
When does the fetus become a full-fledged child and acquire rights?
In the UK, this issue is treated differently than in the USA. In England, Wales and Scotland, abortions are carried out up to 24 weeks, later – only in exceptional cases. The maximum period of fetal survival is 21 weeks with chances from 0 to 10%.
Starting at 24 weeks, doctors will fight for the life of the child, since he has already formed sensory organs, the survival rate is from 40 to 70%. The longer the deadline, the higher the chances.
This is what a live embryo looks like at 20 weeks of pregnancy. The mother of this child was lucky, the chances of survival of the baby ranged from 0 to 10%.
James Elgin Gill from Canada became the earliest surviving infant. He was born at the age of 21 weeks and 5 days with a weight of 1 pound 6 ounces (623 grams).
In 2014, one resident of Australia tried to draw attention to this problem and "push through" a law that would give all legal human rights to a fetus up to 30 weeks of pregnancy. The reason for this was a car accident in which her unborn child died.
And this is what a baby looks like at 24 weeks of pregnancy.
As for Miran's funeral, Sharran Sutherland commented on it this way:
Of course, it is morally difficult to say goodbye to the fetus, regardless of what its term is. Perhaps it was worth allowing the couple to hold the ceremony after all. What do you think?