RE: Abortion Viewed in Moral Terms
August 21, 2013 at 4:03 pm
(This post was last modified: August 21, 2013 at 4:08 pm by Faith No More.)
(August 21, 2013 at 3:58 pm)pineapplebunnybounce Wrote: I'm not sure why you have fixated on the heartbeat. Usually the first ultrasound you do is around week 12, right? They also look for down syndrome in this ultrasound, by checking the thickness of the back of the fetus's neck. So this is quite crucial for parents who decide not to keep fetuses that would develop down syndrome. Even though the fetus has a heartbeat at this point, it still depends on the mother to oxygenate the blood. Which means the heartbeat doesn't have as significant a function as our heartbeats, because the fetus isn't able to oxygenate or excrete things in the blood. Just wondering if you've thought about this as well.
Sure, but why stop at twenty weeks then? An arbitrary line has to be drawn somewhere, and based on my experience, I draw it at the end of the first trimester.
What is your argument for placing it somewhere else?
ETA: Oh, and I forgot to add. We went through IVF, and at 12 weeks you are still under the care of the fertility doctor who is monitoring to see if the pregnancy is staying viable. You don't get an ultrasound until you are put under the care of the ob-gyn at the end of the first trimester.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell