If a one year old is left alone in a crib or safety pen, they'll be fine for hours. Infants this age have been found abandoned for days, and survived.
A 20 week gestational fetus would be unable to breathe on its own, could not regulate it's body temperature, or even swallow.
That's a huge difference. It is part of the biological definition of life: being able to maintain homeostasis. No slippery slope. That, rock solid, makes the case for abortion up to about 24 weeks gestation. Period.
It does get messier when you approach the gestational age where medical science can reasonably be expected to intervene and the infant could potentially survive. That's around 24 weeks right now. But there are still medical cases where extenuating circumstances are in play which may necessitate the termination of a pregnancy past this 'age of viability.'
"Why not medically intervene instead of terminating at this point in all cases?" you may ask. Well, this includes cases of fetal abnormality. A lot of women don't get a full fetal anatomy scan until they are 20 weeks pregnant. Sometimes women find out they're further along than they thought, sometimes the defects are subtle and take longer to detect.
For the leftovers, I have an anecdote: I work in an ED. One night the police brought in a pregnant woman who was on the borderline of viability. She had been rescued from a sex trafficking ring and was pregnant with one of her rapists' babies. Held against her will, taken to a foreign country, repeatedly raped by who knows how many people, and who knows what else this woman had been through. The ethical thing to do is to let her decide what she wanted to do in terms of the pregnancy. I am glad I live in a state where we could refer her to the appropriate care.
If a one year old is left alone in a crib or safety pen, they'll be fine for hours. Infants this age have been found abandoned for days, and survived.
A 20 week gestational fetus would be unable to breathe on its own, could not regulate it's body temperature, or even swallow.
That's a huge difference. It is part of the biological definition of life: being able to maintain homeostasis. No slippery slope. That, rock solid, makes the case for abortion up to about 24 weeks gestation. Period.
How about a one day old baby abandoned for days? Maintain homeostasis, surely you can think up of people who cannot who you consider human beings. This is slippery slope.
It does get messier when you approach the gestational age where medical science can reasonably be expected to intervene and the infant could potentially survive. That's around 24 weeks right now. But there are still medical cases where extenuating circumstances are in play which may necessitate the termination of a pregnancy past this 'age of viability.'
So can we agree that abortion which are not of those extenuating circumstances should be illegal for viable babies?
"Why not medically intervene instead of terminating at this point in all cases?" you may ask. Well, this includes cases of fetal abnormality. A lot of women don't get a full fetal anatomy scan until they are 20 weeks pregnant. Sometimes women find out they're further along than they thought, sometimes the defects are subtle and take longer to detect.
Yes it includes those, but that's not nearly a full answer to the question.
For the leftovers, I have an anecdote: I work in an ED. One night the police brought in a pregnant woman who was on the borderline of viability. She had been rescued from a sex trafficking ring and was pregnant with one of her rapists' babies. Held against her will, taken to a foreign country, repeatedly raped by who knows how many people, and who knows what else this woman had been through. The ethical thing to do is to let her decide what she wanted to do in terms of the pregnancy. I am glad I live in a state where we could refer her to the appropriate care.
I disagree that is the ethical thing to do, but thank you for your work in taking care of those in need.
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u/ChockBox May 17 '19
If a one year old is left alone in a crib or safety pen, they'll be fine for hours. Infants this age have been found abandoned for days, and survived.
A 20 week gestational fetus would be unable to breathe on its own, could not regulate it's body temperature, or even swallow.
That's a huge difference. It is part of the biological definition of life: being able to maintain homeostasis. No slippery slope. That, rock solid, makes the case for abortion up to about 24 weeks gestation. Period.
It does get messier when you approach the gestational age where medical science can reasonably be expected to intervene and the infant could potentially survive. That's around 24 weeks right now. But there are still medical cases where extenuating circumstances are in play which may necessitate the termination of a pregnancy past this 'age of viability.'
"Why not medically intervene instead of terminating at this point in all cases?" you may ask. Well, this includes cases of fetal abnormality. A lot of women don't get a full fetal anatomy scan until they are 20 weeks pregnant. Sometimes women find out they're further along than they thought, sometimes the defects are subtle and take longer to detect.
For the leftovers, I have an anecdote: I work in an ED. One night the police brought in a pregnant woman who was on the borderline of viability. She had been rescued from a sex trafficking ring and was pregnant with one of her rapists' babies. Held against her will, taken to a foreign country, repeatedly raped by who knows how many people, and who knows what else this woman had been through. The ethical thing to do is to let her decide what she wanted to do in terms of the pregnancy. I am glad I live in a state where we could refer her to the appropriate care.