Information

Category:: Common Interest - Politics
Description:: Pro: Being for; approving something.

Choice: The power, right, or liberty to choose; option.

Pro Choice: The right for all women to decide for themselves. The choice to parent, to give up for adoption, or to terminate. The power for a woman to decide what to do within her own body.

Claim:
The 12-week fetus experiences pain.

Facts:
At this stage of the pregnancy, the brain and nervous system are still in a very early stage of development. The beginnings of the brain stem, which includes a rudimentary thalamus and spinal cord, is being formed. Most brain cells are not developed. Without a cerebral cortex (gray matter covering the brain), pain impulses cannot be received or perceived.

Claim:
A fetus is indistinguishable from any of the rest of us.

Facts:
A fetus of 12 weeks cannot in any way be compared to a fully formed functioning person. At this stage only rudiments of the organ systems are present. The fetus is unable to sustain life outside the woman's womb; it is incapable of conscious thought; it is incapable of essential breathing. It is instead an in utero fetus with the potential of becoming a child.

Question:
Is it appropriate to refer to a fetus as unborn child, with the same right as other human beings?

Answer:
No. Constitutionally, a fetus has no rights of personhood. Most legal precedent in English law attributes personhood to the live born.

Claim:
A fetus has brain activity at 40 days/6 weeks.

Fact:
The absolute earliest brain activity has ever been recorded is at three months; this was evidenced in an experiment conducted by Okamoto and Kirikae, in which very basic brainstem activity was recorded. Axons, dendrites, and synapses, all of which are necessary for higher brain function, are not present until approximately the 24th week. The factoid of brain activity at 40 days comes from a misquotation by Dr. Hamlin in one of his lectures, in which he references the Okamoto and Kirikae experiment and describes the fetuses as being at "some 40 days" of development. This statement is false, as the fetuses were over 90 days old.

Information can be found on:
http://eileen.250x.com/Main/Einstein/Brain_Waves.htm
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/abortion-access/anti-abortion-video-6136.htm

Posting guidelines are located here:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=2760&post=35579&uid=2209152011#/topic.php?uid=2209152011&topic=2760 (read less)
Pro: Being for; approving something.

Choice: The power, right, or liberty to choose; option.

Pro Choice: The right for all women to decide for themselves. The choice to parent, to give up for adoption, or to terminate. The power for a woman to decide what to do within her own body.

Claim:
The 12-week fetus experiences pain.

Facts:
At this stage of the pregnancy, the brain and nervous system are still in a very early stage of development. The beginnings of the brain stem, which includes a... (read more)
Privacy Type:: Open: All content is public.