In a post-Dobbs television landscape littered with pro-abortion propaganda, only a handful of network shows have dared to humanize the unborn child. Last night, NBC's medical drama Chicago Med did just that.
On Wednesday's episode, "Look Closely and You Might Hear the Truth," a teenager named Kira (Bernadette Santos Schwegel) discovers she has an abdominal pregnancy, a rare type of ectopic pregnancy. Her baby won't be able to survive.
In discussing the unborn baby's tragic fate, Kira talks about the child's heartbeat. Her doctor, Hannah Asher (Jessy Schram), calls the baby "a human being."
In a bizarre twist, it turns out that Kira secretly became pregnant so that her child could provide her terminally ill mother with stem cells after it was born.
Asher: Kira, have you ever heard of the term "ectopic pregnancy"? It's when a fertilized egg implants in the outside of the uterus.
Kira: Is that what's happening to me?
Asher: Mm-hmm. Your MRI revealed that you have a rare type of an ectopic pregnancy. It's called an abdominal pregnancy. The fetus has attached to the vena Cava, which is a huge vein that leads to your heart.
Kira: But the baby's okay, right? I mean, we saw its heartbeat.
Asher: Yeah, at the moment, it is. But if the placenta damages the vena Cava for any reason, that could cause severe internal bleeding, which would, in turn, put your life in jeopardy.
Kira: So, what are you saying?
Asher: For your safety, you need to have surgery to remove the fetus.
Kira: Will the baby survive?
Asher: At only 20 weeks, no. I'm so sorry.
Kira: [Sobbing] No. No, you don't understand. My mom needs this baby.
Asher: What do you mean?
Kira: My mom has a rare stem cell disease. It's why we came in today. She needs a donor, but the doctors couldn't find one, and I'm not a match for her, so-- so I got pregnant.
Asher: Okay, in hopes that this baby would be a stem cell match for your mom?
Kira: Yeah.
Asher: Okay, Kira, this is a human being that we're talking about.
Kira: I know, but I'm gonna raise the baby, and I'm gonna be a good mom.
Asher: You're so young, Kira. Being a mom right now, your life would never be the same.
Kira: I can do this, and I want to! And you know, I always planned on having kids, so why not start now?
Asher: Because it's just too dangerous right now, Kira.
Kira: But what if we waited a little bit and let the baby grow a little more before the surgery? I mean, would it survive then?
Kira's reasons for conceiving are ethically questionable and convoluted, but she also appears genuinely attached to the child. When another doctor asks Asher why she is delaying Kira's surgery, Asher says that Kira is "operating from a place of care and concern, not just about her mother, but for the baby, and she seems pretty clear-headed about it."
Asher later sees fluid in Kira's belly and can no longer hold off on surgery. Kira survives, but the baby does not.
This is the second network series with an episode this spring about a mother who hopes to save her previable baby, even at risk to her own life. Last month, ABC's The Good Doctor aired an episode in which a mother was willing to die to save her unborn child's life. While such high-risk pregnancies are exceedingly rare, both episodes highlighted the humanity of the baby in utero.
Hollywood generally moves in lockstep with whatever cultural narrative Democratic politicians are pushing at any given moment. This has been the case with everything from BLM to trans issues to immigration.
After the Dobbs decision, I steeled myself for a television season filled with radical pro-abortion messaging. Predictably, countless shows this year have pushed hardline pro-abortion rhetoric, including Grey's Anatomy, Station 19, FBI: Most Wanted, Law and Order and New Amsterdam to name a few.
So, it's a pleasant surprise whenever a series dares to deviate from the dehumanizing language of abortion advocates. The set-up of Chicago Med's episode last night was a stretch, but the script deserves credit for at least using straightforward and honest language when talking about a baby yet to be born.
