After hearing about abortions, I have been involved with and heard about arguments over whether or not it should be legal. It has become a nation-wide debate, often sways the public to decide on political leaders, and leaves the fate of a human’s life in the hands of the beholder. These disputes stem farther down than whether or not a couple of irresponsible teens should pay the price for their actions. It is a matter of whether or not it is fair to that unborn child. Is it murder? Or is it just deciding not to allow an organism to become an actual human being?
In the United States, it is illegal to abort a pregnancy if it is further along than 24 weeks. This time frame was set so that the baby has not yet developed enough to feel or know what is happening. Most believe that up until the second trimester, there is no real human that is being harmed. It is just an egg or a creature thereof that feels and knows absolutely nothing. I thought he same thing too.
However, after putting aside my own beliefs, as I am asking you to do now, think about this; after looking into it some more, I found that studies show in some cases, “…Although a pregnancy is considered full term between week 37 and week 42 of pregnancy, babies born as early as week 24 have survived” (What to expect). Yes, I was just as shocked as you. Even after only a short amount of time, “…With the advent of sonograms and live-action ultrasound images, neonatologists and nurses are able to see unborn babies at 20 weeks gestation react physically to outside stimuli such as sound, light and touch” (What To Expect). Although at such a premature stage, an infant’s sense of touch is so sensitive that even a single human hair drawn across an unborn baby’s palm causes the baby to make a fist. Surgeons entering the womb to perform corrective procedures on tiny unborn babies have seen those babies flinch, jerk and recoil from sharp objects and incisions (MCCL).
David Birnbach, M.D., and president of the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology explains that, “Having administered anesthesia for fetal surgery, I know that on occasion we need to administer anesthesia directly to the fetus, because even at these early gestational ages the fetus moves away from the pain of the stimulation,” (MCCL)
The object of this blog was not to sway anyone to believe that abortion is murder. I personally believe it is your own decision and should be left at that, but before going through with it, think about these few things:
The unborn baby at 20 weeks
Fetal development is already quite advanced at 20 weeks gestation:
- The skeleton is complete and reflexes are present at 42 days.
- Electrical brain wave patterns can be recorded at 43 days. This is usually ample evidence that “thinking” is taking place in the brain.
- The fetus has the appearance of a miniature baby, with complete fingers, toes and ears at 49 days.
- All organs are functioning—stomach, liver, kidney, brain—and all systems are intact at 56 days.
- By 20 weeks, the unborn child has hair and working vocal cords, sucks her thumb, grasps with her hands and kicks. She measures 12 inches (MCCL).
So are the arguments that the baby is unaware of the pain it would potentially feel? Or is it actually murder?
Here’s a link; not as graphic as others I have seen, but through an ultrasound you can see the size of a baby that is being aborted at 24 weeks. If you do view it, just know that you have been forewarned.
sources:
http://www.whattoexpect.com/wom/pregnancy/how-late-can-you-get-an-abortion-in-the-united-states.aspx
http://www.mccl.org/unborn-babies-can-feel-pain.html
This blog really caught my attention because i think abortion should be decided by the women and the women only. No one else should be able to tell a women if she has to keep a baby or if she doesn’t. This topic is something that will always be argued and very subjective. The beliefs of people really won’t be able to change on the topic of abortion. I agree if the baby is a certain amount of weeks or months old, they should not be able to abort the baby because in that case it could very well be considered murder, however if a baby is still in the early making weeks, i believe it is 100 % up to the women to decide what she wants to do about the baby. This has been one of the most controversial topics for decades, but it really depends on the individual person.
I think that abortion is one of those things that will always be subjective, which is why we don’t talk about it in class. Although it is nice to see some reasoning behind people’s beliefs, you probably won’t be able to change the beliefs of the stubborn people with strong opinions about abortion. Something I found funny was that the video’s title says (3-5 to 6 month old) which is normally a title reserved for babies that have already been born, and not fetuses. You can just feel the extreme bias of the video poster!
This blog caught my attention because it is crazy to think that even though scientists have said it is legal to abort a baby before 24 weeks, a baby can feel certain things before this time period (such as 20 weeks like you mentioned). It is mind blowing to think that babies have survived at only 24 weeks of being in the mother’s womb. The information you gave of the baby at 20 weeks was very informational because I don’t think many people realize how much the baby embyro can feel at this specific point in time. At 20 weeks, a baby makes body movements with his/her legs and arms, has working vocal chords, and already has hair. This topic is very hard because it has been so controversial for decades. It is hard to say if it is murder, but it depends on the individual person. I would just tell other people to look into the embyro throughout each week to see how he/she develops. Great blog! 🙂 Below is a link of fetal development month by month. It is pretty interesting!
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases_conditions/hic_Am_I_Pregnant/hic-fetal-development-stages-of-growth