Parents are faced with difficult decisions every day. When someone imagines what these choices may be, they think of the child physically being there. In some situations, the physical presence isn’t always the case. Termination of pregnancies has always been a controversial subject in religion and politics, but what most people don’t see is the struggle within the parents to make the decision to end it. Since the legalization of abortion in the 1970’s, it has been a saving grace for some expecting couples or single mothers that might not be ready to have children for a variety of reasons. Hemingway and Boyle portray the mental and physical hardships of deciding to terminate a pregnancy and also going through with child birth, …show more content…
There can be many reasons as to why termination can be the best option for them, such as the parents are too young or they aren’t wanting to have children together. On the other hand, there might be reasons as to why one parent doesn’t want to terminate the pregnancy. Regardless of the situation, it takes a toll mentally on everyone involved. The decision to terminate a pregnancy can strain the relationship between the mother and father of the child. In Ernest Hemingway’s “Hills like White Elephants”, the mother to the unborn child is afraid after her procedure the father will not love her anymore. She questions him about their future, saying “you think then we’ll be all right and be happy”. Even though she knows it’s for the best she doesn’t want to lose her love as well as losing the child that is growing inside of her womb. In the case of China and Jeremy in T. Boyle’s “The Love of My Life”, the two college freshman are not ready to have a child. As she sits weeping on a motel bed he urges her “’you’ve got to get rid of it…go to a clinic’”, as she responds “’I can’t…I’m scared. I’m so scared”. Some view those who decide to have abortions as heartless, but what they don’t see is how devastatingly heartbreaking it is for the parents to make such a decision regardless of the