Here’s my question: How far along do you have to be before the fetus can be tested for Down Syndrome or other similar conditions? Is this early enough that a woman would easily be able to get an abortion without it being a considered a “late term” abortion?
That is what scares me the most about this restriction… I want to be able to have the option to abort a fetus if it is found to have a serious disability.
They are usually done around the 16th week. I don’t think that would ever be considered a “late-term” abortion.
A nuchal pad scan needs to be done between 11 and 12 weeks (I believe - it could be 12 -13) and they’re pretty definitive for detecting Downs.
I believe an amnio is done around the same time. So, if either of those test revealed a problem you would still be in the first trimester.
As to potential problems that could lead to a third trimester abortion being a medical need - my SIL was pregnant and in her 7th (around 30 or 32 weeks I think) month the fetus died. It was safer for her (both physically and mentally) to do a PBA as opposed to delivering the fetus, or doing a D&C. I’m not sure if that sort of scenario is addressed with this new legislation. Further, I’m in Canada and the whole abortion debate here just isn’t much of a debate anymore.
Ok good.
What disturbs me the most is that the way it is described in the media gives the average person this (false) visual picture: a visibly pregnant woman with a large belly - with a viable healthy fetus, which is only a month away from delivery - just decides she doesn’t want the baby, so they pull the fully-developed baby’s just outside the cervix and crush the skull, and yank the rest of the dead fetus out…
Obviously this is NOT the way it happens, but this is how it is portrayed, and how the average (and uninformed) person views it. There are just no documented cases of women in their 8th month doing this to a health fetus, just because they don’t want the baby.
Even if that is true, there are a lot of people who believe that the health of the fetus is irrelevant to the morality of abortion.
Right, and their morals would be irrelevant to my decision and my right to make that decision.
Well, that isn’t too far off the mark when we are talking about abortions in the 5ht or 6th month. I’ve never seen that type of thing in the media concerning the abortion of Downs Syndrome fetuses, though. You are the one who brought that subject into the thread-- we’ve all been talking about D&E and IXE.
OK, but I’m addressing what you said about the way these abortions are portrayed in the media. What I’m saying is that someone who is against late-term abortions, whether or not they are portrayed in the media as being healthy or non-healthy fetuses that are aborted is irrelevant.
That’s the point: the average person has no idea of the difference between any of the aforementioned methods.
Yes and no. They are gruesome procedures, and not something many of us would care to watch. That doesn’t make them any less necessary, just easy to use for political manipulation.
Let’s not, as that confuses the distinction between medical abortion (i.e., with medicine; e.g., RU-486) and surgical abortion.
This recent link from FARK, perhaps? It’s about medical abortion, not IDX, but it might be where you’re getting that mental tickle.
Perhaps things have improved a bit since I last looked into it, but though the tests can start at 16 weeks, they may take several more weeks before you have results.
Cite?
Don’t bother. It’s irrelevant to this discussion. If you want him to give you a cite, start your own thread.
This is in GQ because I am interested in specific facts about abortions. I see now that some information is impossible to know for sure due to the manner in which the data was tracked. But there is still pleanty of hard facts out there that will help people understand the issue better.
I’m not interested in peoples’ opinions or agendas. Whether or not you believe infanticide of 18 month old babies is okay, or whether you think ejaculation from masterbation is killing millions of half-babies… I dont care. I want to know the facts of the issue.
Thanks all. And thanks for all the info so far!