Well, this is one of the creepiest things I've seen lately

[layla]

It took me a while to figure out if this website was a joke or not. (I'm pretty sure it's real. But still not 100% convinced.)

http://www.homestead.com/godslittleones/micropreemies.html

They're pro-life "micropreemie" (a.k.a. fetus) dolls. Now, regardless of where you stand on the whole issue of whether life begins at birth, conception, quickening or wherever, I don't think anyone can deny that the human fetus, baby or not, is really freaking creepy looking. It trips our whole sense of "human, but not quite human, AAIIEEE!" And thumb-sized plastic fetuses dressed in baby clothes are, frankly, about ten times as creepy-looking as they would be in their natural environment.

Here's the main page, FYI.

Comments

[ndgmtlcd.livejournal.com]

It could be more interesting still if they made the earlier ones real big. When I read your post I was hoping, before I clicked on the link, for something looking like Dave Bowman at the end of 2001, a space Odyssey. I'd love to have a "doll" like that. I'd put him/her/it on my desk at the office, without baby clothes, of course. I deal with people involved in biotechnology, epidemiology and related matters.

[j-luc-pitard.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the tiny ones are creepy, but a few years ago I thought about getting a micro-preemie doll (from a woman who made them for parents who've been through prematurity, not a political site) to remember how small my son was at birth. He was a 24 wkr, 1 pound 7 ounces. Now he's 6 and going strong... Thankfully!
What's missing from those preemie dolls are the horror of the tubes, ventilators and wires that are needed to give them even a tiny chance at life. Options could include life sized medical teams that work 24/7 to save their little lives and parents who are sick with worry and guilt. Those rosy pink cheeks on that peaceful 23 wkr face made me laugh. My daughter, born at that gestation (1 pound 1 ounce) looked nothing like that. She was a fighter, but the fight was just too hard. I considered a doll at the same time I was thinking about the one for her twin brother, but it would've become a focus for my grief. It was really just a bit too creepy to think of having it around the house. His would've been to look back on and say 'Wow, look how far you've come!' hers would've been... some sort of totem?
I'm pro choice and come from a family strong in the belief that a woman, not the courts or the legislature, should decide what happens inside her body. That website was creepy and insulting with it's "warning" to women who've had abortions or miscarriages. Really great to be treated like a moron. I'd like both sides of the abortion issue to be able to work with each other to teach birth control and promote adoption (responsibly) so that abortions aren't needed except for rape or health of the mother or child. Apparently it's too much to ask since a lot of people derive their power from such an emotional issue and much of the debate is carried on by men who will never have to face the pregnancy test themselves.
Sorry for the rant... obviously a personal issue for me.

[missionbear.livejournal.com]

That just drives home the fetus as parasite image for me. Creepy. I wish people would stop pathologically fetishizing pregnancy and fetuses.

[its-a-nono.livejournal.com]

Wow, that site is...I dunno, I think seeing a fetus at various gestations is interesting. Having just had a baby myself (very, very luckily, she was late, not early) I tracked the progress of my little one all the way and loved imagining her at six weeks and on, so tiny but already human looking. I only was bothered by the idea of dressing any of the pre-21 wk babies. It's amazing and wonderful how modern medical science has been able to sustain premature babies and help them not only survive but thrive, but slapping a hat on an eight-week-old fetus is...it's disturbing to me. No eight week old baby is going to survive outside the womb long enough to wear a hat. It adds a repressive religious overtone (God doesn't want to see even a fetus naked!) that takes the idea from being sweet to creepy. Well....it was interesting to see, but I share j_luc_pitard's feelings on the matter.

[polarbee.livejournal.com]

But...but...they were checked by "Physcians[sic] and "Dulas[sic]!"

I can't see any non-rabidly political reason for that site.