You’ve Got To Be Kidding Me…..

I found out in the news recently that a British supermodel is having an abortion to improve her chances of appearing on a reality TV show. Yep. You heard it right. The 23-year old model and call girl Josie Cunningham is 18 weeks pregnant with her 8th child. She is mother to two boys and has lost an additional five babies through miscarriages. The newest baby’s dad is either a British Premier League soccer player or a former client. Both potential fathers have offered to pay child support if she gives birth, but she turned both offers down. So one of the men is now offering to pay for the abortion at an undisclosed location in London.

Ms. Cunningham is doing this in an attempt to join the cast of the British TV show Big Brother. She said, “Channel 5 were keen to shortlist me then they found out I was pregnant. Then they suddenly turned cold. That was when I started considering an abortion. After the operation I will be going back to them and asking if they will still consider me. I’ve also had loads of other offers to further my career – and I’m not willing to give them up because I’m pregnant.” Cunningham has already become infamous in England for exploiting the National Health Service insurance program to pay for breast implants and cosmetic dentistry.

Channel 5, the TV network that hosts Big Brother, has already made it clear they are turning Cunningham down whether she has the abortion or not. And English abortion law states that a woman cannot have an abortion in her second trimester of pregnancy unless there is a severe risk to the mother’s life or health, or if there’s a chance that the baby would be seriously handicapped. Cunningham has been trying to increase her chances of harming the baby by drinking and smoking throughout her pregnancy.

Hopefully, all of us across the political spectrum can agree that her reason for doing this is sick and twisted. Pro-choice people and pro-life people alike try to be compassionate and understanding when a woman is pregnant and facing a difficult situation, such as poverty or rape or incest. We can all agree there that the woman is not wantonly ending her child’s life, but that the decision she faces over what to do next is a difficult one. We just disagree on what the solution is to the woman’s dilemma.

But this is mind-boggling. In the interview where Cunningham gave her reason for doing what she’s doing, she was rubbing her belly while smoking a cigarette. That mental picture in and of itself is the most diabolical thing I have ever imagined. When expectant mothers rub their baby bumps, it’s typically done out of love and tenderness for the babies in their wombs. And now that image has been perverted by a woman who’s deliberately and desperately wanting to harm her unborn child because she sees the baby as an obstacle to her own 15 minutes of fame.

I don’t know how anyone could be kind to Josie in this situation. When I was growing up, I was always told it’s easier to attract flies with sugar instead of vinegar. But I don’t know how to do that here. You could try to appeal to the fact that her popularity has dropped dramatically in Britain and in the United States, thus lessening her chances that she’ll be hired to do anything by another TV program.

But, she’s already made it clear that she doesn’t care about that.  And she seems convinced that she’ll still make it as a TV star. Because of this, there’s no point in asking her what would happen if every media outlet in England rejected her and left her alone to confront her decision of ending her child’s life.

She’s already appealed to her sons to justify her decision, saying that she’ll be a better mother to them if she has the abortion. So there’s no point in anyone asking her how she would tell those boys what happened should they ever find out that they lost a sibling due to their mother’s selfishness.

I just don’t know how you could get through to someone who’s that cold-hearted and selfish. Or how you respond to such narcissism and cruelty without exploding in a fit of rage. Right now I’m just glad I’m not able to speak to Josie directly about this, because I don’t know how I would react.

So here I am writing this blog post, and I’m shocked, stumped, and saddened. I’m shocked that that someone is willing to kill someone else just to get her own way, stumped about what to do or say next, and saddened that a human being would treat her own child with such disregard, and then publicize this information like it’s the greatest thing she’s ever done. To their credit, tons of people in England are infuriated with this woman now, and I’m glad to hear that. But otherwise, I’m speechless. It’s sickening to see people stoop so low.