[AndrewC]

Fetal Psychology

Behaviorally speaking, there's little difference between a newborn baby and a 32-week-old fetus. A new wave of research suggests that the fetus can feel, dream, even enjoy The Cat in the Hat. The abortion debate may never be the same.

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Fetal Alertness

Scientists who follow the fetus' daily life find that it spends most of its time not exercising these new abilities but sleeping. At 32 weeks, it drowses 90 to 95% of the day. Some of these hours are spent in deep sleep, some in REM sleep, and some in an indeterminate state, a product of the fetus' immature brain that is different from sleep in a baby, child, or adult. During REM sleep, the fetus' eyes move back and forth just as an adult's eyes do, and many researchers believe that it is dreaming. DiPietro speculates that fetuses dream about what they know - the sensations they feel in the womb.

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Dr. Janet Dipietro studies the behavior of the fetus in the womb

Their studies include examinations of the fetal heart rate, fetal movement, and other factors in the womb that display the development of the fetus. She has found an apparent period of accelerated neurobehavioral development in the fetus during the third trimester, between 28 and 32 weeks. During this time, fetuses display more mature patterns of heart rate, respond more to external sounds, display sleeping patterns like newborns and exhibit more regular periods of activity. This indicates that the nervous system is forming more neural connections.

She is currently trying to prove two hypotheses: 1) that the fetus responds to the mother's emotional state and 2) that negative emotions and stress affect development negatively and can affect the baby's temperament.

[Friend of thunder]

between 28 and 32 weeks. During this time, fetuses display more mature patterns of heart rate, respond more to external sounds, display sleeping patterns like newborns and exhibit more regular periods of activity. This indicates that the nervous system is forming more neural connections.

So abortion is all right before the 28th week? While I don’t claim to speak for Hank, his argument seems to be that we need to argue against abortion on a more fundamental level. There many people in hospitals who do not respond to external stimuli, can we kill them?

This is my question now, are the unborn protected by the Fifth Amendment to the constitution (i.e. nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;.

[Question_Assumptions]

Everything you wrote about fetal development may be correct but I think it is irrelevent. A fetus is a "person" before neural tissue has even differentiated itself so this is just simply another reason why later term abortions are bad. But using it as an argument against abortion sets up a potential trap that will not protect the unborn before the point of feeling pain.