Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: BRAND (01/12/17)
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TITLE: You Choose | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gary Ritter
01/16/17 -
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Amy watched in breathless anticipation as Sanford stood next to the blank screen at the front of the room. “The public knows us only as an abortion provider. Today, we unveil our new brand that changes everything. Welcome to ‘You Choose’, our new name, our new identity, and a new choice for pregnant women.” With a flourish, he pointed toward the screen which suddenly displayed the latest logo: an intertwined rose and baby cradle with ‘You Choose’ in a bold, yet delicate blue script.
“You, ladies, are the ones who will make this concept happen. You will no longer be assistants to the doctors who relieve so much suffering among the beleaguered women who come to us in such a quandary; no, you will have expanded duties and raises to compensate. We have now deemed each of you a doula.”
Amy’s doula training began that afternoon, and it wasn’t long before she embraced the dual role given her. She looked back at her previous duties and saw how one-sided they were. They’d given her a narrow outlook on pregnancy and its outcome as determined by the woman’s decision to come to the clinic. There had previously been only one choice: destroy the fetus. That had all changed with the unveiling of the company’s revamped direction.
Within a week the facility reopened, a ray of light in the community, like, Amy thought, a morning star. Her first day began as each had before the change. Two teenage girls came in wailing about how their fathers would kill them if they learned of their pregnancies. Amy reassured them that their parents would never know. It was none of their business because the clinic valued confidentiality.
After the procedures, Amy took the valuable parts, and with the help of another doula, packaged them for the firm that regularly purchased them. This had often bothered Amy, but when she’d voiced the matter to her superior, he told her that important medical research resulted from fetal tissue. She wouldn’t want to stand in the way of miracle cures, would she?
That afternoon, everything changed. A woman came through the door in the initial throes of labor. In the past, if someone didn’t want the fetus, the clinic could accommodate even this late stage situation. However, this woman wanted to keep it, and Amy hustled her to the shiny, revamped delivery wing. Her recent training kicked in. “We’re so glad you’ve decided to keep the baby. You’ve chosen the best delivery option in town, and so much cheaper than a hospital.”
Breathless, as pain wracked her, the woman managed, “I…wasn’t…sure. But then…had a change…of heart.”
The doctor came in once Amy had settled the woman on the delivery table. After a quick check, he winked. “Call me if you need me.”
Amy’s doula training had been to bring comfort, not act as midwife, but it appeared that’s what the doctor assumed. In a panic, she enlisted the assistance of another doula, who had no more clue what to properly do than she did. Between the two of them, they managed to keep the mother calm and bring the child into the world. Its first cries were far different than the tears some women shed after an unwanted organism had been ripped from their bodies; tears that came with the realization they’d made a mistake.
The mother cuddled the child, and her face shone with love. Amy’s heart broke at the sight. She was glad she had the opportunity to help with life. The difference in her responsibilities disturbed her immensely.
In her quiet hours that evening, Amy compared the killing fields of her morning with the joy of a mother holding her newborn child. Surely the company’s logo had been chosen well: a blood-red rose for death and a cradle for life.
Her work the rest of that week brought similar contrasts. She asked her supervisor if she could help only with births. Not possible, she was told. Double doula duties, or none at all.
She left the building and headed for the pro-life people on the sidewalk.
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I really enjoyed this read.
M. C.
Thank you for giving a voice to the voiceless.