Six Weeks Is Too Little Time

By Lucas Krueger

The 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. 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 affect 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.

“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

From Super Bass to Super Based: The Tale of BallgateBy Joe Badalamenti

Someone “pound the alarm”, because there was just a case of delicious internet beef. Around a month ago, celebrity musician Nicki Minaj caught the attention of the mainstream media from a series of “super based” tweets. While Nicki has been known for her aggressive style of tweeting, her recent controversy has pulled her into the depraved realm of politics. Has Nicki discovered the key to Internet fame? Or is this just another example of celebrity shenanigans?

It all started on September 13th, when Nicki tweeted about the controversial COVID vaccines, sharing an anecdote of a “friend of a cousin” who became impotent as a result of taking the vaccine in order to encourage her audience to be informed and confident before taking the vaccine. The tweet was as follows: “My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His my tweets. ‘My God SISTER do better’ imagine getting ur [sic] dumb ass on tv a min after a tweet to spread a false narrative about a black woman”. While the drama was escalating, the powers that be took it upon themselves to send Nicki to Twitter jail, as revealed to us through the celebrity’s Instagram story. In the end, this event shows how hopeless modern society is.

Going for the low hanging fruit, no pun intended, this is yet another example of the hypocrisy and impulsiveness of modern political discourse. While the anecdote may be far fetched, the message of the tweet was well intentioned and reasonable, especially for a celebrity. However, Twitter is not a place for reasonable discussion, so what followed was a wave of impulsive reaction. On the left, you have insults, censorship, and a potential case of blackmail. On the right, you have a complete embrace of the celebrity’s personality, even against personal or proclaimed values; what happened to celebrities staying out of politics?. While one may believe that such actions are an exaggerated response to a string of words, this is just the nature of the Internet.

What this event does highlight is a discussion of the role of a celebrity or public figure in modern discourse. Because they are widely known, public figures have the power to influence large swaths of the population. As a result, these public figures have a responsibility to act morally and with decency. For example, the widespread use of Photoshop and plastic surgery by celebrities has cultivated widespread body dysmorphia among this generation. This responsibility isn’t necessarily to act better than the average person, only to maintain certain moral standards. Promoting hostile actions, slandering opponents, or spreading misinformation are a few examples of unethical behaviors in the public eye that have a chance of influencing the behaviors of others.

While this framework is applicable in the modern day, the culture has become so divided that different people will see the same incident in different lenses. In the “Red” lens, Nicki was just advising caution when making risky decisions based on reliable testimony. This is opposed to the “Blue” lens in which Nicki deserves ridicule from her belief in her friend’s absurd and unreliable testimony. Each lens uses the framework discussed earlier in order to make a judgement. However, the conflict lies in the perceived facts; in this case, regarding the vaccine. The blue lens sees it as good and universal, while the red lens applies a more cautious view. While some differences may be resolved through means such as persuasion or compromise, this difference lies in opposing fact claims. One could claim that this is an issue of education or being informed; however, the Internet has made access to information free and widely accessible. Moreover, both of these lenses use evidence to back up their claims about the vaccine. The problem is not celebrity behavior or access to information; the problem is being able to understand reality in the context of several conflicting views of reality.

It’s clear from this discussion that not only are online conflicts or divergent actions, such as Ballgate, normalized, but inevitable in the near future. While not the most politically active celebrity, Nicki Minaj has placed herself at the center of politics with one controversial tweet. While Nicki still appears to be in good health, the same could not be said about society.

“Nicki Minaj was attacked for her opinions; however, as she is well versed in the area of celebrity beef, Nicki was able to fire back with a series of “ratchet” responses.”

testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called of [sic] the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.” From there, the Internet did what it does best and exploded into what has been dubbed “Ballgate”. Nicki Minaj was attacked for her opinions; however, as she is well versed in the area of celebrity beef, Nicki was able to fire back with a series of “ratchet” responses. For instance, in response to a Joy Reid segment, she tweeted: “This is what happens when you’re so thirsty to down another black woman (by the request of the white man), that you didn’t bother to read all