Some people believe that an unborn baby is not “alive” or a “person” until he or she is able to live outside the womb. The problem with this is that viability, or the time that a baby is developed enough to live outside the mother, is constantly changing.
According to the Miami Herald, baby Kenya King was born in plantation, Florida at 21 weeks .She weighed 510 g “18 ounces” 10.5 inches. After lengthy stay in the hospital, she came home, perfectly healthy baby.(1)
What about the allegations that a baby born this early will suffer from extremely serious handicaps? Some babies who survive this early to have handicaps later in life. However, survey done of teenagers who were born between 20 and 23 weeks revealed the following:
“[They] view their health-related quality of life is quite satisfactory.”(2)\
Here are ads offering to kill children beyond 23 weeks, clearly after viability
Note: “fetal anomalies” often means conditions like Down Syndrome and other nonlethal problems in the baby.
Sometimes children aborted this late survive the abortion procedure and have to be disposed of by the doctors. See the section on “born alive after abortions” in the menu for some of these stories.
Footnotes
1. JC Willke “Why Can’t We Love Them Both: Questions and Answers about Abortion” (Cincinnati, Ohio: Hayes Publishing, 1997) P91
2. “Self Perceived Health Status and Health Related Quality of Life of Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants At Adolescence” JAMA, August 14, 1996, P453
3 thoughts on “Viability and Abortion”