There are arguments for viewing the fetal-maternal relationship during pregnancy as parasitic, but given the gene transfer and mutual benefit exchange, it is more appropriate to view it as symbiotic than parasitic.
Pregnancy and childbirth have long been considered sublime phenomena for humans, both in the East and the West. Pregnancy is the fertilization of a fertilized egg by a sperm and the development of a fetus in the womb, a sacred process where life is born and grows. Pregnant women have been protected since ancient times, and pregnancy was considered a great auspicious occasion for the family. When news of a pregnancy in the family spread, congratulatory gifts were given, and prenatal care was practiced for the unborn child.
Recently, however, a netizen on a website argued in favor of abortion that the fetus growing inside the mother’s body is parasitic on the mother. The netizen claimed that the fetus grows by unilaterally taking nutrients from the mother, citing the interspecies parasitism found in deep-sea fish and some invertebrates as an example. He claimed that this relationship is referred to as “parasite” in specialized books and papers. This has sparked a heated debate online, but can the relationship between mother and fetus during pregnancy be considered parasitic? I would like to discuss this.
First of all, I think it’s inappropriate to view the relationship between the fetus and the mother as parasitic. The first reason is the transmission of genes. Passing on one’s genes to the next generation, or reproduction, is one of the ultimate goals of living things. A parasitic relationship is one in which one of the two organisms helps the other, but the other is not helped or is harmed. However, mothers pass on their genes to their offspring through pregnancy and childbirth, which is an important task for life, so this should not be viewed as a parasitic relationship, but rather as a symbiotic relationship where both parties benefit from each other.
Also, the fetus doesn’t just benefit from the mother. During pregnancy, some of the toxins in the mother’s body are transferred to the fetus. On March 9, 2014, a test conducted by a Korean television station found that synthetic harmful substances such as DDD, DDE, and DDT were transferred from the mother’s blood to the fetus. Surprisingly, the concentration of harmful substances in the fetus’ blood was much higher than in the mother’s. In addition, women expel harmful substances from their bodies through pregnancy and childbirth. When comparing the toxic substance content in the bodies of single people, people who have given birth once, and people who have given birth twice, it was found that the more times a woman has given birth, the more toxins she excretes. This suggests that the fetus is not a one-way parasite on the mother, but rather a mutually beneficial relationship.
Furthermore, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai have shown that mothers receive cells from their fetuses to help fight disease. The reason why pregnant women who suffer from heart dysfunctions such as myocardial infarction before or after giving birth recover faster than those with heart failure is that they receive cells from the fetus that can differentiate into various heart cells. This gives the mother resources that she can utilize to treat the disease. Taken together, it is inappropriate to characterize the relationship between mother and fetus as a simple parasitic one.
First and foremost, the very definition of the word parasitism is problematic. “According to the 1972 edition of General Parasitology by Thomas C. Cheng, parasitism is defined as “a metabolically dependent relationship between two different species”. According to this definition, the mother-fetus relationship is not a parasitic relationship because it is homospecific. In the case of the deep-sea fish and some invertebrates mentioned earlier, the term parasitism is not appropriate.
At first glance, the physiology of pregnancy and parasitism may seem similar. However, the definition of parasitism only applies to relationships between two different species, and in reality, the relationship between mother and fetus is more akin to a cooperative symbiotic relationship than a parasitic one.
More importantly, the claim that the fetus is parasitic on the mother can be used to rationalize termination of pregnancy, or abortion. The parasitic relationship is consistent with the claim that the mother’s consent is required to continue the pregnancy. If a mother is forced to continue a pregnancy she does not want, her physical rights may be violated. Also, if the fetus is claimed to be a parasite on the mother, there is a risk that the fetus will not be protected by the mother. The physical risks of continuing a pregnancy can be life-threatening to the mother. Therefore, we should be critical of claims that equate a fetus with a parasite. In the future, when similar claims are made, we should look at the issue from a scientific, logical, and ethical perspective.
