abortion, gender politics, and the surgery scene

i have to say i like the whole theory about frazier and the sacrificial king. obviously scott is a complex and thoughtful guy, whether or not he's christian or what have you, but i think there are some pretty blatant politics on display in the self-surgery sequence. i.e., "GET IT OUT OF ME!" - this life-force that's parasitizing me and annulling my future... as someone has pointed out, shaw first requests a "caesarean" not an abortion. (why is the medical pod only configured for male patients by the way? is this simply a gory, gaping plot hole or a subtle hint at wetland's presence?). but the surgery program she activates uses the words "deep wounds, foreign body". the facehuggers of the original series are so obscene because the forced penetration and impregnation is so much like rape. david has infected shaw with a parasitic being which he simply insists must be carried to term because of weyland's orders, much as paul reiser wants to impregnate ripley and newt. the horror of penetration by the 'foreign body' is the affective basis of the whole series, from john hurt right through to noomi. shaw is truly a successor to ripely - incidentally, just as in alien, at the beginning there is no indication who is the lead or who is going to live. this scene is where that tips over. "marvelous survival instincts" or whatever david says later - like ripley she is characterized by this primal drive to struggle for control of her destiny. i agree there are a lot of themes about humanity and divinity and what not, but i think there's a lot of gender stuff going on in the film which forms a direct continuity with the alien series, and the surgery scene is the sort of an instance par excellance if you will. the series has often been noted for the rare (in the genre) depth and significance of its female lead; i'm pleased and intrigued to see prometheus follow in the same steps...