Not to mention how he grew up in a place where childbirth would have been exponentially more dangerous and then went to live with monks who never really dealt with pregnancy in their community. Like, growing up on Tatooine he would have seen pregnancy as something like a death sentence, it’s a miracle that his mother survived her pregnancy considering how it wasn’t planned and she was a slave with no way to provide for herself and certainly no maternal leave or support. The only reason she survived was probably because the person who owned her at the time was like “ooo free slave that I can sell or use!” And decided to allow the pregnancy. Obviously this viewpoint changed as he adjusted to a safer life and environment, probably because he talked about it with Padmé, but subconsciously I’m sure it’s still really terrifying for him.
Human pregnancies are genuinely extremely difficult, painful, and dangerous, especially compared to other animals. There is a reason why misogynistic psychopaths want to eliminate birth control and it is because pregnancy makes women so vulnerable, not because they have any moral objection to “killing” unborn babies.
So many women underestimate how dangerous pregnancy is even if you’re healthy and happy and have really good doctors. And with Padmé’s status and job it would have been even riskier for her. She is the constant target of assassination plots and if she had an organic doctor there would be the threat that they might have political motives to harm her or that they could be bribed or threatened. Even with a droid, they could be sliced. And she overworked herself so much already which definitely would’ve put a lot of strain on the pregnancy. I know George wasn’t thinking about it like this but from the perspective of a woman or just someone educated in the dangers of pregnancy Anakin’s reaction makes perfect sense.
Maybe I’m a bit more aware of this because I was almost strangled by my umbilical cord and had to be cut out of my mom and have been aware of this fact for as long as I can remember, but yeah it’s really concerning when people downplay the risks. Oh, and not to mention how she was carrying TWINS and didn’t even know it, that complicates pregnancy a lot to. Anyway yeah women’s reproductive health is incredibly glossed over in schools and we don’t talk nearly enough about it. Like yeah, our bodies trick us into not seeing pregnancy as traumatic after it’s over, you literally forget all the pain and are flooded with happiness hormones, and women who’ve experienced pregnancy do perceive it differently because of that but the risks and dangers are still real. But the patriarchy doesn’t want us to know this because not knowing makes us more vulnerable.
And it’s all this knowledge that makes me love Sola so much and see her as a total badass and embodiment of female freedom. Because she had the rights, freedom, support, confidence, and courage to have children without a man. She made the decision that she wanted children for herself and went and got it and succeeded in having two wonderful and healthy babies without letting anyone have claim over any part of her body or her children. I hate the phrase about a woman carrying a man’s child as if the fetus inside her body belongs to the man, as if that gives him claim or control over her autonomy. Pregnancy is risky and dangerous and can be wielded as a weapon to hurt women, but it’s also beautiful and miraculous and something that makes life worth living. The freedom and ability to choose when and how you want children is one of, if not THE, most important rights a person can have. Both Padmé and Sola embody that, how important it is for women to be free to choose who their partner is and whether or not they even have one. Padmé died and wasn’t able to raise her children because others were trying so hard to control her and her husband’s freedom to love and start a family. No matter if it’s someone trying to force you to have children with someone you don’t love, or someone not allowing you to have children you want alone or with someone you love, it will end tragically.
This got very off topic, but yeah this in an issue I feel very strongly about and that is severely overlooked or downplayed, especially in the Star Wars community.