Posted on 10/29/2021 6:58:08 AM PDT by karpov
The Supreme Court will soon reconsider the decision in Roe v. Wade (1973), which made abortion legal in America through all nine months of pregnancy. At that “point in the development of man’s knowledge,” as Justice Harry Blackmun put it in Roe, there was simply no consensus about when life begins. In other words, the fetus could not be said with any certainty to be alive and therefore wasn’t worthy of legal protection.
As a diagnostic radiologist—whose youngest patients are fetuses, who are very much alive—I submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization urging the justices to rethink Roe, a case premised on a claim about science. I was joined by two other female physicians, a neonatologist and an obstetrician, who also value their youngest patients, believing that whether inside their mothers or born, premature or full-term, they are worthy of respect and protection.
Ultrasound technology was in its infancy in the 1970s, when there was much more uncertainty about life before birth. The first ultrasound machines, introduced in 1958, were enormous, and the images were rudimentary. It was only in the later 1970s that fetal ultrasound became widely available, with increasingly detailed images of recognizably human babies. Black-and-white ultrasound images are now found on refrigerators of expectant parents across America. New three-dimensional images have put a human face on the person once dehumanized as a mere clump of cells.
Perfectly apparent now, to the justices sitting on today’s court as well as the public, are the liveliness and humanity of babies at 15 weeks of gestation—the age at which Mississippi proposes to protect them from elective termination.
Nestled within their mothers, these fetuses on average are 6.4 inches long and weigh 4.1 ounces. They have the proportions of a newborn—seemingly all head and rounded belly.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
“Democrats worship at the alter of abortion.”
So true.
As RBG said, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations we don’t want too many of. Democrats want to control everything for what they deem the greater good. They view themselves as god.
There never was any science behind it, it was 100% political, and still is.
I know people that, when it comes down to it, are not genuinely interested in the science because to face the truth would necessitate them not voting for Democrats and having to vote for Republicans (or not voting). They are more wedded to the political doctrine of “Democrats good/Republicans evil” than they are to being open to the truth that human life begins at conception and that the Democrats they vote for are killing babies.
Abortion is legal because mothers are treated as the Owners of baby daughters and sons, who in turn are treated as Property, to be disposed of at their mother’s whim.
That state of affairs is, in turn, the direct result of society disenfranchising fathers.
To abortion advocates, the humanity of the preborn baby is less important than the mother’s desire to kill the baby.
Abortion advocates know that the preborn baby is a baby.
That knowledge doesn’t even slow them down.
2nd half:
The major organs are formed and functioning, and although the child receives nutrients and oxygen through the mother’s umbilical cord, the fetal digestive, urinary and respiratory systems are practicing for life outside the womb. The sex of the child is easy to discern by this point. The baby swallows and even breathes, filling the lungs with amniotic fluid and expelling it. The heart is fully formed, its four chambers working hard, with the delicate valves opening and closing.
A healthy baby at 15 weeks is an active baby. Unless the child is asleep, kicking and arm-waving are commonly seen during ultrasound evaluations. The fetal spine is a marvel of intricacy, and it is most often gently curved as the fetus rests against the mother’s uterine wall. Often, I watch as babies plant their feet against the uterine wall and stretch vigorously. Sometimes a delicate hand—with all five fingers—approaches the face and appears to scratch an itch. Fingernails aren’t visible, but they are present. We can see how the bones of the leg meet the tiny ankles and the many-boned feet.
At 15 weeks, the brain’s frontal lobes, ventricles, and thalamus fill the oval-shaped skull. The baby’s profile is endearing in its petite perfection: gently sloping nose, distinct upper and lower lips, eyes that open and close. With the advent of 3D ultrasound, we can now see the fetal face in all its detail.
These are the patients I encounter daily in my work as a radiologist. Clearly human, clearly alive, no longer mysteriously hidden from the eyes and knowledge of man, they ask us to consider them not disposable nonhumans but valuable members of our human family.
Yes, our understanding was different in 1973. But in Roe’s own terms, we have arrived at a much different “point in the development of man’s knowledge” about life in utero. The Supreme Court’s judgement should reflect that advancement and put an end to the casual cruelty of unfettered abortion.
Dr. Christie is a diagnostic radiologist and a policy adviser for the Catholic Association.
You are overthinking a system that in the crude psychological sense grew out of people thinking with their genitals. Whatever there is that helps there be more sex without concern for consequences is deemed right and just.
It isn’t that they had to deal with abstract thoughts about personhood or ownership … most just didn’t care about such nuance in the least, so they didn’t bother with them.
So really “you” didn’t overthink anything, but are only attributing thinking to those who often weren’t thinking at all.
As for the underlying cause to the crude psychology, I would suggest that it has to do with spiritual depravity. The same depravity resulted in things like demand no fault divorce and the marginalization of fathers, not the other way around.
Abortion exists within a spectrum that includes easy divorce, approval for and championing homosexuality etc that are all outward evidence of an underlying condition. Abortion is a “worse” among these because it is about as unloving as unloving can get, a crass betrayal of all natural affections.
That was just something ginned up to get folks to sit still for it.
We can accommodate some of that obsolete science to save lives.
from my home page
___________________________________________________________________
I’ve posted this in a couple of places and it doesn’t seem to get much more than a yawn, even though it’s kinda-sorta an incremental approach.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1908148/posts?page=125#125
I believe a fetus is a human being who deserves protection under the law from being killed.
***I do too. That fetus deserves protection extended by the state.
I do wonder if it is biblical to extend ‘full protection to a fetus? I.e. when a man hurts a pregnant woman, he’s expected to pay an eye for an eye & a tooth for a tooth. But if the unborn baby is killed, the price is not the same.
Perhaps it is time to consider a 3 (or even 4) tiered system of protection.
Tier 1: Living, viable, late term baby which will not be aborted unless the life of the mother is at stake.
Tier 2: Living, not-yet-viable pre-born human who should have the right to protection and life and a safe womb to which it can attain viability. Cannot be aborted unless there is an open rape case associated with the pregnancy or the life of the mother is at stake.
Tier 3: Living, early stage, not yet viable pre-born human for whom we do not extend the rights of life in this society because of a historical snag where we once considered such tissue not to be a baby. We as a society thought it was best to consider it a private decision. I personally do not believe in Tier3 abortions, but I can understand that there are many who think it is a ‘right to choose at this stage. It may be time to consider a program where the woman declares her pregnancy and intent to abort. Our societal function at this point would be to provide a family that is willing to adopt this baby and to put up this woman for 6-8 months in a safe environment so the baby can grow and maybe the woman can learn some life skills. If our society cannot muster the forces necessary to save this baby, the woman has the sickening ‘right to abort this pregnancy. Time for us to put up or shut up.
With a 3-tiered plan in place, women would stop using abortion as a means of birth control. Millions of lives would be saved. We would extend the right to life to every human that we have resources to save. Unfortunately, if we cannot put up the resources to save the Tier3 babies, we still would have this horrible practice staining our nation’s soul.
125 posted on 10/08/2007 1:43:20 PM PDT by Kevmo (We should withdraw from Iraq — via Tehran. And Duncan Hunter is just the man to get that job done.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
___________________________________________________________________
Because reasons. Also because shut up, they said.
If they want to claim that, eliminate all child support paid to women by men, under any circumstances.
The left will assert that it grows because it is a tumor.
Even tumors are alive.
Ok, they will insist these are cancer-like tumors that must be removed. For the health of the woman who carries it.
Eventually it will come down to the fact that the DNA
of the fetus is not the same as the mother’s and is in
fact an individual in it’s own right.
After that it’s murder.
Birth control happens BEFORE conception after that
it’s murder.
I believe they’re already trying that.
I’ve seen the other side use arguments that unborn babies are “parasites” and for that reason can be aborted. The “tumor” argument doesn’t seem much different.
A 15 week ole. S fetus is 6.4” long? Wow! I didn’t realize they were so developed at 15 weeks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.