"Lisa Tuttle - A Cold Dish" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tuttle Lisa)

irony. We had sinned against society, and we must make amends.

When he first said the words "community service" I relaxed a little. It wasn't going to
be jail or bankruptcy. I imagined myself working with the handicapped or the very
old; maybe cleaning out bedpansтАФwell, somebody had to do it. It was honest work,
and I swore to myself I would not complain.

With his faintly lecherous smile, Judge Arnold Jason said that the punishment should
fit the crime. Back in the good old days, he went onтАФas if he were old enough to
remember!тАФimmoral sex had consequences. Women kept themselves in check
from fear of getting pregnant. Society had gone to hell when contraception had
become readily available to anyone who wanted it.

The last election had shown that the great American public was sick of immorality.
Many laws had recently been passed to define and ban unacceptable activities.
Deviant behavior was to be discouragedтАФso the great Judge Jason decided to make
an example of me.

I wasn't the first woman to receive a sentence of pregnancy, but the ones before
me had all been prostitutes. As an alternative to time in jail, with the added bonus of
a year's free health care, as far as most law-abiding, tax-paying citizens were
concerned, such "punishment" was more like a holiday! And it had the longer-lasting
effect of helping to reintegrate these "fallen women" into normal society. Although
most of them gave the babies up for adoption, a few opted for motherhood, and
the new responsibility kept them on the straight and narrowтАФat least, that's what I
read in an article which presented this enlightened new approach to vice in a wholly
approving way. It seemed, when I read about it, like a great compromise between
punishment and rehabilitation.

Somehow it seemed very different when I was on the receiving end.

Compromise! We're all suckers for it. The ideal of the magical middle way which is
good for everyone.

For so long it seemed there could be no compromise between those who promoted
"the right to choose" and those who proclaimed an irrefutable "right to life." Then
cryogenics and medical technology created a compromise. Legislation followed.
Conflict was eradicated. No more abortions; women had the right to choose; and
the right to life was upheld. Instead of "termination" we had "removal." Tiny lives
were frozen in stasis until a more willing womb, a welcoming home, could be found
for them.

It seemed so simple. Everyone knew there were more people eager to adopt than
there were healthy, adoptable newbornsтАФbut somehow this demand didn't transfer
to all the new unborns. Usually people who were willing and able to hire a surrogate
mother wanted a child with some of their own genetic material. Otherwise, they'd
shop around for premium eggs and spermтАФthose who could afford them wanted
designer babies, not something removed from careless or immoral women.

Yet homes could always be found for newborn babies. It was a psychological thing.