Hello, Issuers.
This is a half-formed idea that I've had lurking, based on news reports on women who've had babies stolen. It's shape may change somewhat.
For the record, the website in option 1 and 2 is based on a real website (it was mentioned in one of the reports I read about a baby that was stolen from the womb).
Effect line ideas for #3 really, really welcome, because I can't think of one.
Draft Two: The Overhaul
[TITLE]Womb Raider
[DESCRIPTION] Heavily pregnant @@RANDOMFEMALENAME@@ was excited about impending motherhood. While attending her Babes with Bumps Yoga Class, her new acquaintance Marilynn -- who happens to be a gynaecologist and claimed to also be nine months pregnant -- suggested getting a coffee. Shortly after Marilynn brought the drink, @@RANDOMFIRSTNAME_1@@ suddenly felt very dizzy. The next thing she knew, she awoke at Marilynn's home after a makeshift caesarean, bleeding abdominally and with no sign of the baby or Marilynn.
[VALIDITY]no No Sex policy; Capitalism allowed; has internet; drugs not completely banned; adult
[OPTION] "We have a warrant on a brunette female suspect driving a beige hatchback, last seen wearing a beige polo-neck," rattles Officer @@RANDOMNAME@@ from the @@CAPITAL@@ Police Department. "This is not the first incident of women faking pregnancies in order to abduct a foetus from the womb; not every pregnant woman survives the attempt. Expectant mothers have got to stop trusting any woman with a protruding belly and a smile. Launch a national police campaign to warn pregnant women to guard against overtures of friendship from strange women."
[EFFECT] the new "Your Bump-Bellied Buddy Could Butcher You" campaign has expectant mothers on-edge
[OPTION] "We'd done the adapted pregnant-lady lotus pose side-by-side for seven months, discussed baby-names. And she faked the whole pregnancy," whimpers @@RANDOMFIRSTNAMEFEMALE_1@@, from her hospital bed. "Used a fake-pregnancy website called buy-a-bump. It sells pregnancy tests that are guaranteed positive, fake bumps, even realistic ultrasound scans. If she couldn’t have bought all that, if I hadn't have believed she was a fellow expectant mother, I'd never have trusted her. Stop people selling anything that allows these crimes to happen, and prosecute any profiteer who enables these baby-snatching b... witches."
[EFFECT] round throw pillows are being recalled
[OPTION] "Our site clearly says that our products are for entertainment purposes only," insists site-owner @@RANDOMNAMEMALE@@, flaunting a large bump and a T-shirt saying he’s expecting twins. "If some immoral individuals use them to perpetrate crimes, we can't be held responsible. Of course, Miss @@RANDOMSURNAME_1@@ has our full support and sympathy, and we'd like to offer her a one-hundred @@PLURALCURRENCY@@ gift certificate for our site and a hearty 'get well soon'. And, when you throw the book at the psycho-lady, we’ll be more than happy to provide her receipts as evidence. We just want to see her punished harshly for her heinous crime."
[EFFECT] TBD
[OPTION] A police officer escorts Marilynn into the room by the elbow, while another officer carries the baby. Behind them strides psychiatrist Dr. Kinder-Schloss, passing out copies of his recent book on pentheraphobia, Dislike Mother, Like Daughter. "Marilynn @@RANDOMSURNAME@@ has, as many women who steal babies do, a delusional obsession with the notion of the non-existent 'perfect' family, and she feels she will lose her partner if she 'fails' to bear him a child. We must detain and forcibly treat poor Marilynn for her psychological dysfunction until she no longer has thoughts of babynapping -- possibly forever -- but we must also discourage such maladaptive thinking in wider society, by teaching that childrearing is not the only source of happiness."
[EFFECT] a rise in celibacy is blamed on teary-eyed baby-sick-spattered "Babies: Think It Over" PSAs
[OPTION] "Please don't wake my baby," Marilynn stops humming her high-pitched lullaby. "I tried to have my Persephone Maria for fifteen years. After seven miscarriages, my doctor said, 'stop', and then the adoption agency said I was too old. @@RANDOMFIRSTNAME_1@@ can always have more babies. She wasn't ready; she once mentioned adoption. I planned to 'miscarry' and adopt Persephone, but that woman changed her mind. @@RANDOMFIRSTNAME_1@@'s so irresponsible; she even forgot her vital prenatal folic acid! Her partner left; her nursery isn't finished. My nursery's so pretty: mint with a cute frog border. Shouldn't the capable mother get the baby, not just whatever flighty hussy gets pregnant? My partner and I can afford to give my baby a very good life. Let me have her back."
[EFFECT] custody of infants is awarded according to the principle of "finders-keepers"
Thoughts welcome.