One of my in-laws just had a baby. Poor tyke was a bit premature, born at 32 weeks. He was 4 lbs, 9 ozs, delivered by Ceasarean section.
Now, having long been an observer and participator in the abortion debate, I have to ponder some questions:
Since the “item” was a good 8 weeks early, that’s two months for the math challenged, I have to ask, does it still qualify as a “baby?” It didn’t pass through the birth canal, so can it really be said to have been “born?”
4 lbs is pretty dang small…can nearly fit in the palm of your hand. It’s in neo-natal ICU, so it’s clearly not “viable” as it needs some respirator assistance and constant care. And yet, its parents went ahead and named it.
Many pro-abortionists maintain that the fetus is not actually a “baby” until it is born. Is that true even if we yank it out early via an incision?
And yet, a baby born two months early, a mere four pounds of flesh is ALIVE. It is breathing. And eating. It has a name.
I tend to think that it didn’t undergo some radical metamorphisis as it slipped between a few inches of muscle tissue gripped in the gloved hands of the doctor. No subatomic shifts, no transition between states of matter or inter-dimensional jumps. The doctor did not pull a “fetus” out of that woman’s uterus. He pulled out a baby.
I just don’t see it. Doc’s got his hand down inside a woman’s innards, gripping the “thing”:
“Okay,” he says, “I’ve got the fetus.”
“Don’t you mean baby, Doctor?”
“No, not yet. It’s still inside.”
“The legs are out!”
“Yes, but most of it’s still inside. Still a fetus.”
“But doctor, look! The torso and arms, and a shoulder are all out!”
“Ah, yes, but conventional wisdom among the pro-abortioners is that while the head is still inside, technically, the fetus isn’t ‘delivered.’ Heck,” he jokes with a chuckle, “I could still penetrate the skull and suck out the brains and it would be called a ‘procedure!’“
“Doctor! The head has come out. The baby is fully delivered!”
“Well, okay, I guess your right. It IS a baby….now.”
Just don’t see the distinction, is all. Clearly it is one of mere semantics, rather than of objective reality.