The fetus behaves in a much more complex way than previously imagined… During her odyssey in the womb she will smile, recognize her mother’s voice and maybe even dream.
In the Womb, National Geographic, 2005.
Category: Quotes
Peter Singer: okay to kill disabled infants who won’t have “happy” lives
When the death of a disabled infant will lead to the birth of another infant with better prospects of a happy life, the total amount of happiness will be greater if the disabled infant is killed. The loss of happy life for the first infant is outweighed by the gain of a happier life for the second. Therefore, if killing the hemophiliac infant has no adverse effect on others, it would, according to the total view, be right to kill him.
“Peter Singer in His Own Words,” Accuracy in Academia,
Share on FacebookPreborn baby prepares for life outside the womb
The womb is not a quiet, isolated place; life within it offers abundant and varied experiences that prepare the baby for the world she will meet when she moves out. We are learning to recognize how sensitive, able and already experienced a newly born baby is. She arrives able to breathe and feed, and occasionally can complain loudly. She is also able, in quiet and subtle ways, to respond to people and is so endearing in her actions that she can elicit the loving care she needs. Her competence has developed gradually. New means of observation have made it possible to discover how responsive and active the baby already is in the months preceding birth. Certainly she does not simply lie there curled up in the legendary fetal position.
Geraldine Lux Flanagan Beginning Life. (New York: DK, 1996) 9.
Share on FacebookPro-choicer: Defective child never becomes a “person”
Psychiatrist and anthropologist Virginia Abernethy of Vanderbilt University’s School of Medicine
I don’t think abortion is ever wrong. As long as an individual is completely dependent upon the mother, it’s not a person.
The article in which this quote appears goes on to say:
In this view, which is shared by other pro-choice theorists, an individual becomes a person only when he or she becomes a responsible moral agent—around three or four, in Abernethy’s judgment.
Until then, she thinks, infants—like fetuses—are nonpersons; defective children, such as those with Down syndrome, may never become persons.
Kenneth L. Woodward, “The Hardest Question,” Newsweek, 14 January 1985
Share on FacebookPeter Singer admits life begins at conception
Peter Singer, abortion and infanticide advocate, admits human life begins at conception:
“It is possible to give ‘human being’ a precise meaning. We can use it as equivalent to ‘member of the species Homo sapiens’. Whether a being is a member of a given species is something that can be determined scientifically, by an examination of the nature of the chromosomes in the cells of living organisms. In this sense there is no doubt that from the first moments of its existence an embryo conceived from human sperm and eggs is a human being.”
Peter Singer, Practical Ethics, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, 2008), 85-86.
Share on FacebookTeenager, drug addict, and clinic worker all have late term abortions
An abortion clinic covered in a news story does late term abortions. The reporter describes the cases of two people who come in for them.
“Leslie” was 23 weeks. Her baby was healthy and so was she.
“I didn’t know how they’d respond,” said Leslie, explaining why she kept her pregnancy secret[from her family]. She is still not sure why she took 23 weeks to make her decision, but her youth finally convinced her to abort. “I can’t take care of it,” she said. “I’m still in high school. Some [friends] told me to keep it, but …” Her voice trailed off.”
The article talks about the other late term abortion taking place that day
The other was a mild-mannered IV drug user with hepatitis and an abusive boyfriend. She’d gone through counseling at the clinic early in her pregnancy and was so conflicted that she repeatedly canceled appointments and didn’t show up for the procedure until she was 18 weeks along.
One of the clinic workers had also had a late term abortion. She says:
In her own case, Greenough chose to abort because her daughter was found to have a potentially fatal heart condition…
Greenough remembers the first question she was asked by her doctor: How are you with termination? … an eventual heart transplant might have saved Greenough’s daughter, though she would have been severely handicapped….
The abortion procedure would have consisted of poisoning the baby in utero and then inducing labor.
““We gave birth,” said Greenough, who explained that the process didn’t include the usual contractions. “She came out on her own.”
When Greenough thinks back on the procedure, she has no regrets about her decision, but she does wish that she had been more interactive, taking the opportunity to hold, bathe and dress the fetus that arrived with recognizable facial features. “I was scared to death of her. No one explained that she would be perfectly formed,” she said.
Greenough treasures the mementos she does have, the pictures and the footprints the hospital provided.
Chrisanne Beckner “Inside the abortion clinic” Newsreview.com January 29, 2004
Share on FacebookClinic worker and patient talk about having an abortion
A reporter in an abortion clinic describes a conversation between a counselor and a patient waiting for her abortion:
“Are you sure about your decision?” Laura asked Angela, a tired-looking blonde in a blue, velvet tracksuit.
Angela laughed in a guarded way. “Pretty much,” she said. “We were sitting in the waiting room, going, ‘We can still go.’”
Laura looked concerned. “I want you to be 100 percent sure of your decision,” she said.
Angela nodded. “I’ve done it before.”
The clinic does abortions up to 24 weeks
Chrisanne Beckner “Inside the abortion clinic” Newsreview.com January 29, 2004
Share on FacebookDoctor: “Abortion is nothing special”
“Our view is, abortion is nothing special. Abortion is right up there with having a baby or getting the care for whatever other medical needs you have.”
Dr. Anne Davis of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center
Ryan Lizza “The Abortion Capital of America” New York Magazine
Clinic worker gives reasons women have second trimester abortions
The article “Inside the abortion clinic” on why late term abortions are done
Most [patients] awaited first-trimester abortions (a simple suction procedure performed in the first three months of pregnancy).
But every week, the clinic serves at least a few women who are deep into their second trimesters, which necessitates a more-complex procedure performed up to the end of the sixth month—California’s legal limit of 24 weeks.
According to clinic staff, women who wait past the first three
months of pregnancy do so for countless reasons, some of them tragic, such as when a wanted pregnancy develops some fatal abnormality.
Other women can’t decide whether to risk parenthood as teenagers; have partners who discourage abortion; didn’t know they were pregnant (extreme athleticism can disrupt normal menstruation); have partners who die or leave; have a condition in which pregnancy dangerously affects their health; can’t handle the financial burden; are in denial; or postpone their decisions because of drug addiction.
Sometimes, women seek abortions because they only want boys, and they’re pregnant with girls.
“It’s different every day,” said [clnic worker] Britta.
….
In a year, the clinic handles between 2,000 and 3,000 first-trimester abortions, estimated Britta, and anywhere from 500 to 800 second-trimester abortions.
Chrisanne Beckner “Inside the abortion clinic” Newsreview.com January 29, 2004
Share on FacebookPro-Life club gets in trouble with University for changing people’s minds
An article describes why a pro-life group got in trouble at Aukland University:
Auckland University Student Association president Arena Williams has called for a special general meeting next month, which could see ProLife Auckland being barred from associating itself with the university.
“”Recently we’ve received complaints from students after [ProLife Auckland] handed out fliers at the campus.
On the fliers there was information which some felt was pressuring them into making different decisions than they normally would.”
AMY MAAS “Anti-abortion club faces university ban” Auckland Now 05/06/2012
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