by C. Lyn Walter

Created on: June 23, 2009   Last Updated: June 24, 2009

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.

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