BINGHAMTONREVIEW.COM
SIX WEEKS IS TOO LITTLE TIME
Six Weeks is Too Little Time By Lucas Krueger
T
he debate on abortion has significantly changed since the 90s when both sides reluctantly agreed that abortion was a necessary evil. While the causes and needs for abortion haven’t changed as it remains a necessary peril of society, the tones in discussion have radically shifted on the left. Many leftists now treat abortion as a moral good, with predominant leftist Lena Dunam claiming that she “wishes she had received an abortion,” so she could “fully excercise her rights as a woman.” That kind of talk is persistent among leftist politicians such as Nancy Pelosi, who gleefully talked about the morality of abortion when she suggested the unlikely prospect of removing the Hyde Amendment. Leftist politicians responded to the changing attitude on abortion by essentially creating a competition to see who could be more pro-choice. California started by enacting a law stating that you can get an abortion up to 25 weeks, to which Andrew Cuomo of New York responded by legalizing abortions up to the day of birth. These may seem like simple numbers, but it is very important to distinguish between late term abortions and regular abortions.
“While I understand the urge to not want to kill a fetus with a beating heart, it is debatable whether the fetus is conscious.” In regular aboritons, a fetus is simply vacuumed out because it is small enough to fit, and it is relatively pain-free for the fetus. Late term abortions are completely different, as the fetus becomes too large to be suctioned out. Therefore, the doctor must individually break off each of the developed limbs off of the fetus and pull them out of the cervix manually. Additionally, the amniotic fluid inside the womb is suctioned out, which
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causes the fetus to feel intense discomfort. Finally, once all of the limbs are pulled out, the doctor crushes the fetus’ skull and vacuums the remnants out. It is worth noting that the fetus is not a “clump of cells” after 12 weeks as leftists claim, but a nearly fully developed baby with hands, a brain, eyes, and legs. Therefore, the “my body my choice” argument isn’t quite applicable, since it is an entirely different human being. The good news is that regular abortions are far more moral, as young fetuses don’t have sensory abilities. The other positive news is that only 7.8% of abortions are late and only 1% are past 21 weeks, according to the CDC website, so most abortions are done in a moral way. That being said, inhumanity does occur in leftist states, so the Republican party has an opportunity to appear moderate on this issue. Greg Abbott is risking that. Greg Abbott made abortions illegal after 6 weeks, or after the fetus has a heartbeart. While it may feel intuitive to define the start of life as when the heart starts beating, it presents many moral challenges. Abbott lacks fundamental knowledge about female biology; he doesn’t take into account that many pregnancy tests are false negatives before the six week mark. I find it deeply amoral to force a woman to carry a child to term just because their pregnancy test is a false negative, even considering the arguments about adoption. In addition, the bill fails to provide exemptions for victims of rape or cases where the pregnancy can af-
fect the health of the mother, which is shocking to say the least. While I understand the urge to not want to kill a fetus with a beating heart, it is debatable whether the fetus is conscious. The fetus’ brain doesn’t develop until nine weeks, so it doesn’t have a nervous system. It is even debatable if the fetus’ brain has enough development after nine weeks to describe it as having the ability to feel pain. I call for the banning of abortions from anywhere from 9-12 weeks. I think 10 is the most scientific number because, since the brain develops at the 9 week mark, at 10 weeks the brain is developed enough to have sensory abilities. However, 12 is understandable as well, as it would give more women the opportunity to have abortions before it would be a late term abortion. These bans would have very little effect on abortion rates either, as 92% of abortions take place before the 12 week timeline and I assume that nearly all of the 8% that get second trimester abortions would receive one earlier in the first trimester where it is far more ethical. I think Republicans have to be clear that they’re not anti-abortion. No Republican from Trump or DeSantis or Abbott is calling for the banning of abortion, nor do they want to see it. They are playing too hard to the 30% of the party that wants abortion outlawed, and not towards the 70% of the party that wants to see abortions happen in a moral and ethical way. The Republican message should be less about protecting the “sanctity of life” and more about ending the moral outrage that is late term abortions, while encouraging whoever wants to have one to have one in the early stages of a pregnancy before a fetus develops human features.
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