Jenna Bonner, a med student, writes a great piece on the fetal pain bill. Definitely worth a read:
If we’re gonna do this, let’s do it right, shall we? Why not start off with something nice and contentious, a real juicy issue, like, say… abortion? I’ll probably lose some friends tonight – especially those whom I’ve duped into believing that I am a staunch liberal ;] I may harbor many classically “liberal” views, but this ain’t one of ‘em.
First things first – let me clarify my general position on the issue. Abortion is absolutely wrong, all the time, in every circumstance, without exception. Utterly tragic as rape and incest are, they do not justify the murder of an innocent child. Life begins at conception. Conception means fertilization – the merging of sperm and embryo. These foundational points are not arguable for me – I’ve thought them through and I stand firmly on them.
May 1, 2010 at 8:38 pm
Thanks for the link ;]
May 1, 2010 at 8:44 pm
PS – There's also a quick follow-up on more of the "science" behind the new law posted just after this piece, for anyone who's interested.
May 1, 2010 at 9:32 pm
Hi Jenna,
Great post! I just noticed that you made a typo where you wrote that conception involves the union of sperm and "embryo". You may want to change that so people who are going to attack you from the pro-abortion side don't attack that little typo!
May 1, 2010 at 10:55 pm
Great article! Hope the number of medics who think like this is growing.
Now I'm wondering, though, how long it'll take for someone in the pro-abort camp to say they've developed a means of numbing the pain or eliminating it altogether–from abortions at 17-20 weeks all the way to partial-birth abortions–as though that would make abortions okay.
I'm glad the law was made, but why don't we have more people fighting to defend the human personhood of the unborn baby? The pro-aborts can't make a drug or procedure that renders the unborn non-persons or non-human, though they can probably convince a lot of people that they've developed a means of making abortion painless for the fetus at any stage of the pregnancy (for the "squeamish" parents who want an abortion but don't want to feel guilty about causing their unborn child pain). How long before the "fetal pain" abortion restrictions become a non-issue?
May 1, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Yes, someone just corrected that in a comment on my blog. Great catch! My only defense is that I have an exam on Monday and my brain is fried… what an embarrassment!
May 1, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Yes – Sarah L – that is definitely the bottom line of the entire debate. A legal definition of "personhood" would be a huge deal in the realm of abortion law, if we could get anyone to step up and push for it. However, that could go either way – it could end up hurting the pro-life movement if it turned out to be yet another "arbitrary line in the sand" kind of definition, and unfortunately I suspect that it would be. Pieces of legislation like this one, however, do take us one big step toward that ultimate goal. By humanizing the fetus, we gradually change the thought processes surrounding the debate. If we keep taking these steps in the "right" direction, through step-by-step legislative turning points, we stand a better chance (in my humble opinion) of protecting fetal rights in the long run. We are in a sense laying the foundation for a wide-spread change of heart – a movement that is already stirring in the general American public according to recent polls. I think that demanding a legal definition of personhood at this moment in history would prove detrimental to the pro-life cause – I don't believe that our country is quite ready to lay down the definition that we as "pro-lifers" are hoping for. Unfortunately, this "dance" of politics is costing innocent lives every moment of every day, but alas, it is the reality within which we must operate.
May 2, 2010 at 3:45 am
Jenna, thanks for responding to my question. I agree that it's not so simple to just pass–and enforce–a law stating that, from the moment of conception, every human–born and unborn–is a person with an inherent right to life. I also agree that having a law recognizing that the unborn baby feels pain (and suffers horrifically during an abortion) is a step in the right direction. I wish we could go further faster, but at least it's a step.
The thing that bugs me is that it still makes unborn babies younger than 20 weeks look like "fair game," which is unacceptable. I hope it saves many innocent lives, but many little persons who happen not to be at least 20 weeks old may be considered less than human simply because, according to what we know so far, they can't yet feel pain.
I wish I could be more enthusiastic about this. I just expect the pro-aborts to find a way to make this law work for them, which they couldn't do (as far as I can see) with a law that solemnly declares the personhood of every human from the moment of conception and forbids abortion at any stage and for any reason. I guess the trouble with such a law–passed by the legislative branch–is that it could be overturned the next time that particular state happened to have a liberal majority in the legislative branch. Of course, the same thing could happen with this fetal pain law.
For the time being, this law is better than nothing. I hope.
May 3, 2010 at 6:56 am
Sarah L, just don't lose heart! The abortion battle is one that will only be won by changing hearts, which is starting to happen if you look at the polls and the composition of the two movements. The prolife movement is growing younger and more numerous when compared to the proabortion side. It's only a matter of time!
Funny, the whole, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" Beatitude just popped into my head. The Lord makes good on His promises.