by Jacqueline Hawkins

Sibling rivalry.  It happens.  You can even say it’s natural.  But with abortion, it can be dark and disturbing.

“If my mom didn’t have an abortion, I wouldn’t be here today!”  We hear it all the time.  Okie from Georgia Southern U said that because his father coerced the abortion of two older siblings, he was able to raise successful, productive sons later on, of which Okie was one.  In other words, “I’m glad my big brother is dead.  If he had lived, things sure would be different for me!”  Kill or be killed.  Dog eat dog.

As the sister of a dead brother (not because of abortion), this is disturbing to my very core.  I can’t imagine being grateful he’s gone because his death makes my life somehow “better.”  Statements like that ring cold and cruel in my ears.

There’s even a children’s book called Sister Apple, Sister Pig, written to help children rejoice over their sibling’s abortions.  It’s about a boy who is looking for his sister in various places at his family’s farm.  His sister was aborted, and according to the boy’s father,

“…You have some good reasons to not have a sister right here, right now.  Maybe you will have another sister when there is more time, and there is more money.”

See kids, if your sibling hadn’t been murdered, there wouldn’t be enough time and money for you!  In fact, that is the exact conclusion the young boy comes to in the story.  He says,

“I’m not sad that my sister is a ghost!  If you kept my sister, you would be tired, and sad, and mad! … Because we would be wild and loud and sometimes we would fight.  Mama might be scared that she could not buy enough food for us.  Mama might not have enough time to read to me, to paint with me, to play with me, to talk with me … Sister is a happy ghost!”

I’m starting to realize that this is a vital survival mechanism.  How can a child process the news that his own mother or father murdered his own brother or sister, without going completely insane?

Sister Apple, Sister Pig isn’t a story about a boy who has come to healthy acceptance of his late sister’s death.  This is a story about a little boy who rationalizes his sister’s murder to avoid completely losing his mind.  The same can be said of the people we have met, on campus and elsewhere.  When a parent turns against a child, it’s only natural for the remaining children to turn against the victim as well.  This protects him from the shattering effects of cognitive dissonance.  You can’t be pro-slaughtered-baby and pro-slaughtering-parent at the same time.  This is especially true when you are related to both.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.