Premature infants – who, if in utero, could be legally aborted – are the recipients of a new music therapy designed to engage their sense of hearing at a time when they are so fragile that they often cannot even be held or caressed by their parents. A recent report from the Associated Press suggests that, like all other humans, preemies can be soothed by gentle music, especially when they are serenaded live in their hospital rooms. According to the article:
Recent studies and anecdotal reports suggest the vibrations and soothing rhythms of music, especially performed live in the hospital, might benefit preemies and other sick babies.
In the tumultuous events surrounding a premature birth that sometimes include a struggle to survive, music therapy can reach through the hospital chaos and tense emotions of parents, having a positive effect on the infant. Many insurers won’t cover music therapy for premature infants due to skepticism that the therapy actually affects their medical condition long-term. However, the efficacy of the music for parent-child bonding is well-illustrated by the anecdotes of parents interviewed and observed by the Associated Press. Some parents report that the music helps to nurture the relationship between parent and child, which can be tried by the stress of the less-than-ideal circumstances surrounding the birth of premature babies (for example, premature children can be hooked up to medical equipment 24/7 until they are strong enough to survive on their own, so snuggling and proximal bonding between parents and their babies is more difficult or even dangerous).
According to Lucy Morales, whose premature son received music therapy at his hospital in Chicago, the music relaxed her baby and helped him to sleep. She said it also made her and the baby’s father cry. The music therapist, Elizabeth Klinger, who works for free, reports:
A lot of times families become afraid of interacting with their children because they are so sick and so frail, and music provides them something that they can still do.
Another music therapist, Soozie Cotter-Schaufele, reports that the soothing music can mimic sounds that babies become accustomed to in the womb. This is why, when they are born too soon, the music provides them with solace; in an environment they were not prepared to enter into, the music may bring them back to the comforting sounds they heard when they felt secure in utero.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY8Ne072j4s]
Unfortunately, premature infants represent a portion of the population who are very fortunate to be alive – not due to a lack of modern technology to preserve their lives after birth, but because the threat of being aborted at any time prior to their full-term delivery is a stark reality in the United States. In Live Action’s Inhuman investigation, notorious late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart admits that children delivered as early as 26 weeks have a 50/50 chance of survival, and yet he states that he had already seen four women the week he was interviewed who were past 26 weeks’ gestation and seeking late-term abortions. These are infants who, if they had been born prematurely, could have received outstanding medical care and music therapy. But because of legalized late-term abortion in the United States, they were never born at all.
Music therapy, therefore, simultaneously showcases the magnificent humanity of premature babies and the tragedy of taking their lives before they have the chance to enjoy music and everything else life outside the womb has to offer.
