royness ( ' ' ) - Abortion at 24 Weeks

Metal wires hold her legs apart
as doctors
struggle with their secret knives -

they swarm her like insects
attending the queen
fat and swollen, fixed and drugged -
here, she is no more than a machine
the baby is an abomination.

They had said it would be painless -
a simple process
a matter of ‘dilation and evacuation’...

but the scissors come searching
needles piercing
steered by alien hands -
bloody forceps
tearing through tissue
wrenching off arms and legs -
the unborn head is
punctured and deflated
ready to be extracted.

Later, one must sort through the scraps
looking for a foot, a hand, or heart
any pieces of foetus
lost amongst the blood –
but nothing is missing
nothing is living -
the task is done
the doctors must solemnly abscond:

“Please, do not worry
we have amputated your baby” -
your womb is empty and pure.

royness ( ' ' )

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/abortion-at-24-weeks/