A pregnant woman. [Photo/CitiFM]
No one made an application to be born in this world. A man and woman had sex and you were conceived, simple. Whether the sex was consensual or not, whether conception was via IVF or natural means, is neither here nor there.
Mothers have pleaded with their daughter who got pregnant while in school or before marriage not to abort and promised to take care of the child once born. Children are a great blessing to any family.
Miserably, many couples are having a hard time with phrases ‘project baby making’ for years without luck and the depression is openly seen in their faces.
So, it came as a shock when the High Court ordered Aga Khan Hospital to pay her a cool Sh4.3 million to cater for her unplanned child that came as a result of using one of the family planning methods proposed by their doctors. Last time we checked, no family planning is 100 percent foolproof, other than abstinence.
As if that is not enough, another fine of Sh500,000 ‘for pain and loss of her comfort was awarded’. When you are all grown up and learn that your parents never wanted you and actually went to court and sued a hospital because you came to being, we wonder how it would make you feel.
Would you love your parents the same way? Probably you would ask yourself why your parents went to such a great extent to prove that you are a liability. What if the hospital appeals and the judgment are overturned? Would they give up the child for adoption?
Any unplanned child in a family always brings its own challenges. The least you can do is warmly accept the child and fully welcome him in the family without giving him that constant reminder he or she was unwanted from the onset, and probably the family would have been happier with the child.