Extremely Important Warning: I feel like I'm playing catch with a live grenade these next few chapters... partially the reason this has taken so long to come out is because I couldn't decide whether or not to actually tackle this topic. I've been fighting with myself for some time whether or not to mention this issue, because, invariably, whenever it gets mentioned, someone is going to go after someone else with a rabid weasel and a baseball bat, no matter what side they're on. I am, of course, talking about reproductive issues such as abortion, stem-cell research, and in-vitro fertilization. If you are rabidly pro-life OR pro-choice I ask you to kindly click the back button on your browser to save yourself a potential rage-fest. If you ignore me and continue, and then switch into SUPER ANGRY CRAZY RAGE MODE, well, you kind of brought it on yourself. Be aware that this chapter is not particularly controversial, but the next several that will deal with this topic ARE.

Content warnings: Moderate mature content, possibly triggering material

Chapter Twenty-One: Poland's Problem

Most countries did not have mothers. Egypt and Turkey did know their moms at one point, but as far as most countries were concerned, they did not technically have "parents" the way their citizens did. And female countries rarely ever had biological children of their own (again, with the exceptions being the aforementioned). Colonies, as far as most were concerned, didn't count, especially since they sort of just... happened. Colonies weren't technically "born," per se, they were more along the lines of "wham, bam, they showed up and now you have a little baby country under your care." There was no gestation period, no time in-utero, no stages of fetal development. In fact, no one was exactly 100% sure where little countries came from. Maybe a stork brought them, or they came out of a cabbage patch.

For better or for worse, though, countries' citizens do not come out of a cabbage patch, nor are they dropped off by a stork. Although if you ask most of the countries, they would tell you that they wish that was how they got more citizens. It would cause a lot fewer problems, since no one who did the horizontal tango without wanting children would end up with them, resulting in a debate that was among the most contentious no matter where you went.

Once again, it was Nation's Night Out, and everyone was hanging out around the usual Glaswegian pub, drinking, snacking, talking, fighting. It was just a typical Friday for the nations who frequented the area. At least, it was until Poland slunk in, looking very different from his usual, hyper, cheery self.

"Are you feeling OK, vee?" Feliciano asked. "I hope you're not sick, Feliks. You ought to be careful, it's getting to be flu season!"

"That's not it..." the Polish man muttered under his breath. "What do you all do when one of your citizens dies from very preventable causes?"

"Oh, did something happen?" Hungary asked. "Don't feel bad about it. It happens all the time- our citizens can be really dumb sometimes. Drug overdoses, getting drunk and thinking they can fly, texting and driving, insulting the wrong person- the humans do some stupid things that sometimes end in their death. It's not like it's your fault, you can't possibly legislate against everything that they might do that is stupid."

"Yeah, we always have some idiot that thinks it's a good idea to go poke a dingo with a stick," Australia added. "You can't blame yourself for when something like that happens! They brought it on themselves." Poland shook his head.

"No, it's nothing like that. This person died through no fault of her own... she was ill, and pregnant, and the doctors refused to provide treatment to her because the treatment might cause an abortion! She died, as well as the fetus. Maybe not both deaths could have been prevented, but at least the woman might still be alive if the doctors had treated her!" Everyone nodded in agreement. But Arthur seemed to be thinking about something else.

"You know, a lot of your citizens travel to my country to get cheaper medical care from the NHS- I know you know about it, you even made that poster campaign telling people that the medical care here is cheaper! Why didn't she come here?" he asked, a small accusation hiding behind his words. "After all, it doesn't seem like most people have a problem with it- we get people from all over trying to mooch British medical care!"

"I don't know," Feliks replied. "Maybe she didn't have the money."

"Wait a minute," China interrupted. "You mean they wouldn't treat her because it might cause an abortion?"

"Yeah. We, like, have a law that allows doctors to not have to perform services that go against their personal convictions."

"That's... interesting," the Asian nation replied. "In my country, we have an opposite problem. Because so many people want sons, lots of girl fetuses are being aborted, and now there's a lot fewer women than there are men. And then my government's one child only policy shrank the younger generations even more. Now we might not be able to have enough younger workers to replace the older ones, and not enough women for everyone- our next generation might be even smaller!"

"We have the same thing," India said, agreeing with China as he drank his beer.

Throughout this exchange, Alfred remained curiously silent. It wasn't as though he didn't have anything to add to the discussion- lord knows that he did, every day seemed to bring some kind of new American reproductive issues controversy. Reproductive issues hadn't even reallly been on the forefront of anyone's mind until two Supreme Court cases, Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade. But he wanted to avoid getting into this topic. His politics were already so divided, and even more divided on this issue. It had even turned deadly, with murders and terrorist attacks. And when things like religion got involved, everything ended up about a million times more complicated, because of different standards and dogmas. Situations vary as well, and different situations call for different results.

It was because of all of this that Alfred really, really hoped that no one would ask him what was going on with that sort of situation in his country. "Please, please, let them just keep talking about it," he thought to himself. "Please don't ask me anything..."

Of course, one of the most constant truths of the universe is that nothing works out the way you want it to. If you want someone to talk to you, the way things work out is that everyone ignores you. And if you wish people would just bog off and leave you alone, they will always, without fail, come to bother you.

"It was you that had the whole abortion issue come to the forefront first, right, Alfred?" Kiiku asked. "What do you think?"

Crap.

To Be Continued

Author's Comments:

In order to sort of bridge the gap and introduce this topic, we're back to the pub with the nations discussing things. And the Polish woman dying because doctors refused her medical treatment? It's recent news from Poland- they have a law here that allows medical professionals to deny care in cases that it would violate their personal ethics. Because the treatment could have caused an abortion, every doctor she went to denied her care. Which just seems stupid to me- you deny the pregnant woman care and she dies, then by extension you've killed the fetus. But I guess that never occurred to them...

Also, people in Poland, as well as other countries, will travel to Britain to get medical care from the NHS, because it is cheaper than getting it in their own countries. According to my British friend, it usually pisses off Britons because it can clog up the system, especially when it's for non-essential procedures. However, he also told me that if itwas necessary to save a person's life no one would really begrudge them treatment.

Like I said in the topic, I was really unsure if I was going to try to do chapters on this topic. Every time someone brings up this issue in the national sphere, there ends up being a big confrontation and more debate, and while I normally do not shy away from the controversial topics, this one is a lot more uncomfortable for me to talk about, especially because everyone seems to be on one of the extremes- either abortion should be completely illegal in all cases, or completely legal in all cases. I believe that the actuality is somewhere in the middle- abortion for medical reasons, in the case of rape or incest, or if the fetus will be born with major medical issues, as well as by choice up through a reasonable limit. When the fetus becomes viable, I do think that only doing it for legitimate medical reasons should be allowed, however. I don't have all the answers, though, i's a complicated issue.

In a perfect world, people wouldn't do the horizontal tango unless they were fully prepared to deal with all of the possible consequences of their actions, but then again., we don't live in a perfect world.

Alright. Thanks for reading.

-Kaboom