You have heard the word before, have you not?” “I haven’t, actually.” “But you know what it means:” “Of course:” By late April Megan knew she was pregnant. Not only had she missed her second period, due April 20th, but the telltale signs were there. The slight heaviness in her breasts, the backache, the morning sickness of a month ago, which she had refused to acknowledge at the time. She had experienced these symptoms before. Selfish of her pleasure, her good health, her freedom from the hassles of prophylactic measures, she had used abortion as her surefire method of birth control. With Lahani, she had insisted on condoms, a first for her. In Morocco, abortion was illegal unless the mother’s life was in danger. But obviously something had gone wrong. And now this question from Abdullah, who was sitting silently across from her at the chess table, waiting for her answer. “I don’t know,” she said. “As a Christian, I believe it takes place at conception;”
