Molly Yard, then president of the National Organization for Women, gave an interview with New Dimensions magazine about when a “fetus” becomes human being:
Q: When do you believe the fetus becomes a viable human being?
A: If you read the medical knowledge, 26 weeks is probably the earliest. As a matter of fact, I was just reading figures that indicate that a fetus born before 30 weeks has almost no chance of making it and, if it does, it is going to suffer all its life from all kinds of problems.
Q: Would you recommend 30 weeks is a cutoff point for allowing abortions?
A: I am not recommending anything. I am saying that Roe V Wade was very properly decided. It says that women have a constitutional right to control their reproductive lives, that they have the absolute right to choose it in the 1st and 2nd trimesters, and in the 3rd trimester the state has an interest
“Voices of the Abortion Debate” New Dimensions, 1990
First of all, does it really make sense to say that this baby below (28 weeks) is not a person …
But this baby (32 weeks) is a person?
What’s the huge difference between the two? There’s not much difference on a developmental level, though one does have stronger lungs than the other. Both are capable of surviving outside a woman’s womb. Of course, Molly Yard’s statistics on when the baby can survive are outdated –In fact, they weren’t even true in 1990. Today, the survival rate of babies at 27 weeks is 90% or higher. babies as young as 21 weeks have survived being born prematurely.
Roe V Wade did allow restrictions on abortion in the thirdtrimester, but these restrictions could only go into effect if they had an exception for the “health” of the mother. Doe v. Bolton, a companion case to Roe V Wade that is lesser-known, defined health in very broad terms, including emotional health, meaning that such a law (banning third trimester abortions) is toothless and cannot truly be enforced– The woman could make the case that the abortion would be detrimental to her emotional well-being.
Note also that Molly Yard is not prepared to ban abortion, even after, in her opinion, the “fetus” becomes a human being
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