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With some exceptions, abortion in the U.S. is illegal after the point in the pregnancy in which the fetus becomes “viable”. Viability means when the fetus has a chance to survive if born at this point, and most doctors put this around 24 weeks (where the fetus has about a 50-50 chance of survival). Does that mean that a 28 week abortion is wrong (90-95% chance of survival), but a 20 week abortion is okay (0% chance of survival)? Two recent stories shed light on this distinction.
In Pennsylvania, Dr. Kermit Gosnell is charged with killing seven viable fetuses and one pregnant refugee. The doctor and his staff allegedly performed abortions as late as 8 months into pregnancy. He used scissors to sever the spinal cords of newborns which emerged alive from their mothers, authorities say. Gosnell has pled not guilty and is awaiting trial.
On the other side of the 24 week mark, Arkansas has become the 10th state to outlaw abortions after 20 weeks. Additionally, the State Senate recently passed a bill that would move the limit down to 12 weeks. The bill is expected to be vetoed by the governor, but the veto may be overridden.
In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court created the viability standard as “potentially able to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid”. As medical science advances, survivability for premature births becomes more possible. The viability standard is in danger of becoming increasingly arbitrary. Many factors contribute to viability, from the baby’s weight, to the presence of disease and the health of the mother. The viability standard has never been challenged in court, but these new laws are pushing towards just that.
Another question has yet to be raised in this debate. Imagine a few years down the road when we develop the artificial womb. At that point would a test tube baby, by definition, meet viability standards? If so, what does that mean for the philosophical distinction between late and early term abortions?
Podcast - Abortion - The Adam Goldfein Show - Hour 1
Podcast - Abortion - The Adam Goldfein Show - Hour 2
Additional Resources
Guttmacher Institute, State Policies in Brief, Abortion Laws: http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_OAL.pdf
The New York Times, Arkansas Law Restricts When Abortion May Occur: www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/us/arkansas-puts-new-limits-on-abortion.html
NBC News, Abortion Doctor Set to go on Trial in 8 Deaths: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/04/17178509-house-of-horrors-abortion-doctor-set-to-go-on-trial-in-8-deaths
The Huffington Post, Mississippi Abortion Clinic Gets License Warning: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/26/mississippi-abortion-clinic_n_2558320.html
The Guttmacher Institute Facts on Induced Abortion in the U.S.: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
Pro Con, Abortion: http://abortion.procon.org/
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I listened to your radio show last night with much interest, Adam, and I came to the conclusion that you have become "radicalized." I mean that in the very highest and best sense of the word. When your eyes were opened by the Shop of Horrors that was Kermit Gosnell's execution chamber in Philly, you saw what in reality is a crime scene. Mr Gosnell had a legal right to execute preborn babies in his abortuary, but he had no right to murder children after they were born. The evidence for this crime was in those jars holding the corpses of the babies with their spines snipped, as his former workers claimed he had done. He had no legal right to murder the born, only the legal right to execute the preborn. The evidence for Mr Gosnell's crimes was found at the crime scene. This evidence was radical enough for you to see that heinous crimes against humanity were being committed in Mr Gosnell's Spine-Snipping Shop of Horrors.
The ghastly and unsanitary conditions and his alleged depraved indifference to the suffering of the women he is supposed to be serving also is said to have caused the deaths of several women. Evidence of his openly neglectful and cavalier attitude for the health of his patient was found at the crime scene.
Gosnell was not stopped by the Regulators and Legislators of the State of Pennsylvania; his horrors continued and worsened until he was allegedly caught selling pills illegally in his Den of Death. All the death that took place in that hell-hole, with ample evidence available to any cursory investigation, would have shut him down years ago. But such evidence of guilt was ignored and enabled for years. He got worse and worse with his methods of death and criminality until it was almost impossible to not see what was going on, even by the most casual observer. Gosnell's entire shop was nothing but evidence to multiple crimes against humanity.
In your article you mention the advances of science, and proof of viability outside the womb. Here's the thing about evidence that we should be looking for, Adam: In 1973, the year it became legal to execute children in their mother's wombs, there was no availability to ultrasound, which has shown that at the very earliest stages, the preborn resemble human persons, not blobs of tissue. There was no availability of DNA, identifying the preborn as having it's own unique and unrepeatable DNA sequence, separate from every other person who has been or ever will be again. Thing is, Adam, these advances in medical science can also be used in criminal science. For instance, DNA is used to prove the presence of a person at a crime scene, but has not yet been used as evidence to prove there is a person in the mother's womb.
It is the responsibility of those in journalism, you, to report the evidence of crimes to the authorities. You have been radicalized by Gosnell's House of Horrors in Philly. That is a good thing, because, as we all know, not every journalist has yet been radicalized. In fact, very few have. But you are not every journalist. You are you. You are different from every other journalist in many ways. But you are different now because you have been radicalized. Most other journalists seem numb, or immune, or scared, to look at the evidence. They look away. Constantly. One could almost say they are more dead than alive as persons, as journalists. But the time for that is passed for you, Adam. You have been radicalized. You must now speak the truth to power. Bring the evidence out into the open, for all to see, into the light of day. Almost like "giving birth," not death, to the truth.
Adam, I really pray that since you found out what I told you on the air about Midtown was true that you do another show on the abortion horrors going on HERE IN GEORGIA. I hope you will join myself and other citizens from all over Georgia since you are for " safe and legal " abortion at the Georgia State Capital on Tuesday March 12th. Join us in demanding that Georgia abortion facilities that specialize in abortion surgery are held to the same standards as any other surgery center, that they NOT get special privileges just because they do abortions. This has gone on FAR TOO LONG in our State. Governor Deal has the power to do something about this. I hope you join us and do another show soon!
Thank you for the show last night and hearing me out .
This is a description of the Gosnell House of Horrors, which operated without inspections for years, largely because the "pro-choice" Republican Governor and his administration put on blinders to abortion businesses and did not "bother" them. What a gift to the women of Philadelphia, right!http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/PDFs/GrandJuryWomensMedical.pdf