Can You Explain?
A late-term abortion can be performed at a time in the pregnancy when the baby could survive a premature birth. If, however, the adults involved decide that this baby is not to be given a chance at life, they can choose to have it aborted. The way it is done is by injecting potassium chloride into the heart of the fetus, which would then be delivered dead. If the baby were to be born alive, administering that same injection would then be viewed as an act of murder, and prosecuted in the courts.
I am not one who would say all abortion should be outlawed. I know there are times when it is a heartbreaking choice that needs to be made by the mother, but I also know there are times when a fetus is aborted simply because the "mother" would find it too inconvenient to take on the responsibility of a child. They fail to take on the responsibility of birth control, and then calm their consciences by debating the moment at which a fetus "becomes a person". How much easier to sleep at night when you can tell yourself that you merely "evacuated a mass of foetal tissue".
Exactly when does the mass of tissue become a person? Exactly when does abortion become murder? Can you explain it to me?
On a related theme, a doctor and his assistant have been jailed for two years in New Delhi for using ultrasound scans to facilitate gender-based abortions. Doctor Anil Sabsani was caught in a sting operation and earned the dubious honour of being the first in India to be jailed for the practice. Doctor Vinay Agarwal, president of the Indian Medical Association praised the convictions and said that the medical establishment in India is doing all it can to fight this backward practice.
The abortions are today's technology-assisted version of female infanticide that has been practised in India (and other places, as well) for centuries. It's led to the enlargement of our vocabulary by one very sad word - foeticide. Perhaps the bewildering part of all this is that female foeticide is most prevalent among India's affluent, urban and educated populace. Yes, they have the money to make access to the technology easy, but don't they also have the education and modernization to make this technology unwanted?
If this isn't yet one more sad indication of a much needed turn-around in societal evaluation of a female's worth, then I do not know what it is.
Can you explain this one to me?
I am not one who would say all abortion should be outlawed. I know there are times when it is a heartbreaking choice that needs to be made by the mother, but I also know there are times when a fetus is aborted simply because the "mother" would find it too inconvenient to take on the responsibility of a child. They fail to take on the responsibility of birth control, and then calm their consciences by debating the moment at which a fetus "becomes a person". How much easier to sleep at night when you can tell yourself that you merely "evacuated a mass of foetal tissue".
Exactly when does the mass of tissue become a person? Exactly when does abortion become murder? Can you explain it to me?
On a related theme, a doctor and his assistant have been jailed for two years in New Delhi for using ultrasound scans to facilitate gender-based abortions. Doctor Anil Sabsani was caught in a sting operation and earned the dubious honour of being the first in India to be jailed for the practice. Doctor Vinay Agarwal, president of the Indian Medical Association praised the convictions and said that the medical establishment in India is doing all it can to fight this backward practice.
The abortions are today's technology-assisted version of female infanticide that has been practised in India (and other places, as well) for centuries. It's led to the enlargement of our vocabulary by one very sad word - foeticide. Perhaps the bewildering part of all this is that female foeticide is most prevalent among India's affluent, urban and educated populace. Yes, they have the money to make access to the technology easy, but don't they also have the education and modernization to make this technology unwanted?
If this isn't yet one more sad indication of a much needed turn-around in societal evaluation of a female's worth, then I do not know what it is.
Can you explain this one to me?
2 Comments:
I can't explain it to you. I am very pro-choice but late term abortions stick in my craw like nothing else. If you haven't made the decision to have an abortion early on, why do you think it would be ok to have one later? I support all women in their right to choose and I would support it to the death but I really have a hard time with late term ab.
As for female infanticide: Sick, disgusting, antiquated and outdated. I am thrilled that someone somewhere finally got arrested for this. I hope more arrests will follow.
I'm very much pro-choice as well, but I'm not for late term abortions, unless there is a life in danger.
And for societies that prefer boys over girls ... I remember posting about the new problem hitting some Asian countries ... too many men to too many women, causing a lot of social problems, including crime. If the governments don't step in to change what is socially acceptable, they will have another problem to deal with later on.
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