Abortion Viewed in Moral Terms

[Chas]

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.

Before 20 weeks there is no central nervous system, that's why .

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True, and I have gone through that myself. In fact, I'm just reminded that I was responsible for the discarding of two embryos, which is why, despite my rethinking of the issue, I do lean heavily towards, and will most likely conclude, allowing abortion in the first trimester fine.

What's the difference between first and second trimester, do you know? The cutoff point for legal abortion is currently set at 20 weeks, which is midway between 1st and 2nd. And are you leaning towards this because of your personal experience or some other things you're taking into account?

Um, no. It is midway through the 2nd.