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| Yes | 28% | 35 votes | Total: 125 votes | |
| No | 72% | 90 votes |
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Partial-birth abortion, also called late term or third trimester abortion, is a distressing, but sometimes necessary procedure. It must remain legal as it would go against a woman's constitutional rights to deny a life-saving procedure.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that women also have the constitutional right to privacy to consult with her physician and make the decision to end a pregnancy. The court ruled that states do have an interest in protecting the fetus. States are allowed to restrict abortion in the third trimester except when it's necessary to save a woman's life or to protect her health, both physical and mental. It also gives the attending physician the right to make that decision. Some states require a second opinion before allowing the abortion to be performed.
Third trimester abortions take place during the last weeks of pregnancy starting at 24 weeks gestation. Most abortions are performed in the first trimester within the first eight weeks of pregnancy and 90% are performed within the first twelve weeks. After twenty weeks, less than 1% of all abortions are performed, with abortions after 24 weeks being a very small percentage of that 1%. Of the 1.5 million abortions performed each year, one fourth of 1% are performed after 26 weeks.
Most doctors will not perform an abortion beyond 22 to 24 weeks due to a variety of reasons including lack of proper training. The health of the mother is the most often stated reason for third trimester terminations. This could be physical or mental. The physical examinations common for pregnant women sometimes result in a diagnosis of advanced stage cancer which, of course, requires immediate treatment. Women who have kidney or heart disease may see their over all health deteriorate from trying to sustain a pregnancy. Diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression can also threaten a woman's life. A condition called preeclampsia only becomes severe during the last trimester. All these conditions are life threatening.
Some patients are as young as ten years old and do not realize they are pregnant. Young girls cannot safely carry a pregnancy to term and should not be forced to try. These girls are usually the victims of incest or rape and are very few in numbers. Some of these pregnancies would not result in a viable fetus if carried to term.
Fetus viability is one point often argued. A fetus cannot survive before 23 weeks gestation, even with oxygen, because the air sacs in the lungs are not yet mature enough to pass gases back and forth through the bloodstream. Even at 25 weeks gestation, chances for survival are slim.
RH Reality Check (www.rhrealitycheck.o rg) has many stories posted from women who talk about their third trimester abortions and the reasons behind their decision. Many were due to their health issues and many others were due to the health of the fetus. To quote from that article, '...looked forward to bringing a child into their family but were faced with fetal deformities so severe their child either would not survive pregnancy, or would be born only to die...' After reading these stories, it is clear the decision to abort was not a frivolous choice or for anyone's convenience.
Third trimester abortion must remain available to those women who need them; they cannot be denied a life-saving procedure. States must continue some form of oversight such as a recommendation by two physicians. With the constant advances in medicine, women's health issues will continue to improve, making this procedure ever more rare. Until then, we must respect the woman's right to privacy and trust in her decisions. As the bumper sticker says, How can we trust a woman with a baby if we can't trust her with a choice?
Sources:
RHRealityCheck.org
democraticundergroun d.com
About.com
dogchurch.org
Learn more about this author, Maren Sage.
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No
A late term partial birth abortion is one in which the physician performing the procedure delivers the living body of the fetus vaginally, in breech position, and with the head remaining in the vaginal canal, inserts a pair of surgical scissors into the head. This is termed a cranial decompression (the brains are suctioned out). Is this unborn not a victim of a violent crime?
Unborn Victims of Violence
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-212) recognizes a "child in utero" as a legal victim, if he or she is injured or killed during the commission of any of over 60 listed federal crimes of violence. The law defines "child in utero" as "a member of the species homo sapien, at any stage of development. The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 was signed into law by President Bush on April 1, 2004 in the wake of the murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn child. Scott Peterson was convicted of a double homicide for the deaths of both his wife and unborn child. It is important to note the law defines "child in utero" as "a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development. Is it correct to assume men do not have the right to kill their unborn children, but women do?
How can we charge and convict a case of murder against an unborn member of our species at any stage of development, and at the same time justify the killing of viable, fully formed fetuses based on what is perceived as a woman's right to choose ?
The fetal heartbeat can be detected at 10 weeks. At 12 weeks the fetus swallows, kidneys make urine, joints and muscles allow for full body movement and gender can be identified. At 16 weeks hair is growing, arms and legs move freely, the fetus blinks, moves it's mouth and grasps with it's hands; facial features are recognizable and nails have begun to grow. At 20 weeks the fetus has finger prints and may suck its thumb. At 22 weeks it hears its mother's sounds and if born, could survive outside the mother's body with intensive care. At 26 weeks the fetus weighs 2 lbs, is 10 inches long and has brainwave patterns resembling full term babies. From 30 to 40 weeks the fetus simply continues to grow and put on weight until birth. Partial birth abortions have been performed at these late stages of development.
A woman has every right to choose not to become pregnant, she has the right to choose not to stay pregnant in the first trimester of pregnancy. How does it happen a woman decides to stop the life of her unborn fetus at the second and third trimester? What physician having taken the Hippocratic Oath and swearing to First, do no harm could perform a cranial decompression on a living, viable fetus? Why would a woman knowingly and with assumed full, informed consent, place herself in the hands of such a physician? Is it truly based on her perceived right to choose, or is she ignorant to the reality of the procedure? If she were told scissors would be jammed in to the head of her fetus while it is alive, and its brains suctioned out, would she still pursue such a procedure?
This topic extends beyond a woman's right to choose, prolife advocacy, or any religious consideration. Take all the emotionalism out of this equation and reasonably explain how it could be legal to take a living homo sapien at any stage of development, and pith it with a pair of surgical scissors because it's mother has somehow been granted the inalienable right to choose to have it killed, at any stage of development, prior to birth.
At the same time, if a mother or a physician were to insert scissors in to an infant's brain even one second after birth, they would be labeled murderers, face a lifetime behind bars, and even the death penalty.
Learn more about this author, C. Lyn Walter.
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