The Rabbit Died

“So, they inject it into the rabbit, see if the ovaries enlarge, and that’s how you can tell if the woman’s pregnant?” Ados Hent asked.

“That’s about the size of it,” Dr. Burse Stenton answered.

“Do they do that anymore?”

“No, there’s no live animal involved in testing women nowadays.”

They walked down the New Sweden University hallways in Wilmington, Delaware.

“If they used rabbits, they must’ve used mice…..” Hent suggested.

“Of course. You’re right on it. They’ve used mice. Frogs, too.”

“I know my mother said something about the rabbit….”

“About the rabbit?”

“Yes. She said when she was seeking to find out if she was pregnant with me, something happened to the rabbit.”

“Did you know that a baby rabbit is called a kit? And that they’re like deer in that the full grown male is a buck and the female is a doe?”

“No, I didn’t know that, Doctor, but what about the procedure? I mean I can't remember what my mom told me. She said something happened to the rabbit. It must have been true for the mice. Right?”

“Yes.”

“And the frog?”

“Something different. I bet you didn’t know that they can turn their ears 180° to pick up sound?”

“I didn’t…but you’re not answering my question, Doctor.”

“The rabbit dies!”

Hent was taken aback for a moment. “Jesus.”

“That’s why they no longer use such methods anymore. The animal must die in order for the procedure to continue. Pregnancy tests are far more advanced in modern times. We have come a long way from the origins of seeing whether a woman will be carrying a child or children.”

“Why were you so reluctant to tell me what happened?” Hent asked.

“I just wanted you to be in suspense! No, the real idea is that I didn’t want to upset you with the idea that animal testing is such a travesty.”

“I don’t think so. As long as the procedure is not used just to hurt the animals, it’s great. I’ll take a human life over an animal’s any day.”

“You see it’s far more complicated than that, I’m afraid,” Dr. Stenton remarked.

“How so?”

“You see, we consume certain animals like cows, pigs, chicken, fish. That’s fine. We even consume rabbits. But to test on them ironically, that throws up a red flag. With the death of animals came life to humans. A woman could know that she was with child by knowing that a rabbit's ovaries were enlarged. With the advancements in medicine, we no longer had to practice that.”

“I understand that part but what about the fact that they were used in the first place? Where was PETA then?”

“They had organizations like that. People with picket signs and shouting at doctors. It was messy. But the practitioners were humane. No rabbit was tortured in 9/10 circumstances.”

“What about that one percent?”

“Those were not professionals. They might have worn white lab coats, but they certainly weren’t doctors. They stoked the coals of the fire that the proto-PETA folks had going. They could say, ‘see, they’re murdering the rabbits.’ Of course you can’t murder a member of a species that cannot conceptualize or have the capacity or potential to do so.”

“Like abortion.”

Stenton exhaled. “Here we go.”

“No it’s like killing little babies, right? Instead of rabbits, it’s humans.”

“No, no, no. The fetus is not a person until it is individuated from the woman. That is the clearest way I can explain it.”

“But what about conception?”

“What about it?”

“Isn’t a being alive at that point?”

“It is alive just as a potential not an actual.”

“So you’re pro choice?”

“I’m pro-life.”

“But you support abortion.”

“I’m pro the woman’s life. Her mind therefore her choice and her body.”

“Oh, so I’ve been mistaken.”

“You must have been, Hent.”