anonymous:
Hello! I just wanted to ask something, do we know how developed these babies are when aborted? Are they actually conscious, and are able to register feelings and senses? That’s an actual question, as I’m not sure myself. I ask this because it is my personal belief that if we are going to abort on a life that could be, that’s fine, but not quite so if it is in fact a mindful human.
cultureshift:
There are only two positions you can hold on the killing of prenatal children without being a hypocrite:
- Life begins at fertilization when the male and female gametes fuse, instantly determining hair color, eye color, sex, personality traits, and thousands of other characteristics. This is the moment a new human being is created and he or she should be afforded the same protections that any other innocent human being enjoys.
-
Life begins at birth, or the moment the child’s entire body slips past the cervix. This is the current law in the United States of America. Prenatal children can be legally killed up until the very moment of birth [Doe v. Bolton, 1973]. It seems obvious that nothing magical occurs just because a human being moved eight inches through a woman’s vagina. That child is just as alive regardless of his or her location.
But you are asking about the grey area. You seem to want to pick a time somewhere between fertilization and birth as the most optimal point to stop killing these children. I cannot help you with this as it’s just as illogical, unethical, and immoral to pick some arbitrary marker as it is to kill in the first place.
For example, if you say that viability outside the womb is the cut off, then that is around 20-24 weeks. But you must realize that each human being develops differently. You cannot just say 24 weeks is the magic number. In addition, we don’t usually know when fertilization actually occurs, so trying to find a ‘good’ point in time to stop the killing is just a ‘best guess’ and is nothing more than a way for people to assuage their guilt for choosing this depraved act.
Please visit The Endowment for Human Development for more information and pictures of embryonic and fetal development.
