Medical Science Challenges the “Viability” Rule for Abortion

Abortion, , ,

Last week the journal Pediatrics published an article about a three-year-old girl born prematurely at just 21 weeks’ and 4 days’ after conception. The girl weighed about 14.5 ounces at birth, and had to be resuscitated by medical personnel.

Today she is a healthy preschooler.

Doctors hope this points to a better future for babies born prematurely.

This story underscores a problem with the U.S. Supreme Court’s so-called “viability rule” for abortion.

According to the courts, “viability” is the point at which a baby can survive outside the womb.

In the past the court has ruled abortion can be regulated later in pregnancy — after a baby becomes “viable” and can live outside the womb. Abortion cannot be regulated as easily early in pregnancy — before the baby is “viable.”

Many argue a baby doesn’t become viable until the 22nd or 24th week of pregnancy. This journal article shows a healthy child who was born several days before that, during the 21st week of pregnancy.

Medical technology continues to push the point of “viability” earlier and earlier in pregnancy. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor acknowledged this fact 34 years ago when she wrote, “As medical science becomes better able to provide for the separate existence of the fetus [from the mother], the point of viability is moved further back toward conception.”

This latest article in Pediatrics highlights that fact.

Photo Credit: By Rafael Alcarde Palomares (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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Did You Know George Washington Said This?

Thanksgiving

We’re counting down to Thanksgiving at our office. Today we continue our series tracing the history of Thanksgiving.

On October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued a proclamation calling on Americans to pray. He opened it by writing, “it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor.”

The proclamation goes on to set aside Thursday, November 26, as a day of prayer and thanksgiving.

Washington’s proclamation is significant, because it is the first call to prayer issued by a U.S. president. Before that, calls for prayer and thanksgiving were issued by Congress or by state governments.

You can read President Washington’s entire proclamation here.

If you have never donated to Family Council or the Education Alliance, now is a great time to do so. Your financial support will make Arkansas a better place to live, work, and raise a family. It will promote and strengthen home schooling. It will help fight abortion and make Arkansas a more pro-life state. Click here to send a generous, tax-deductible donation today.

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Pro-Life and Adoption

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Our friends at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview released a commentary today about adoption and being pro-life.

John Stonestreet writes,

[There’s] an argument we hear for abortion all the time: “Unless you’re willing to adopt every unwanted baby, you can’t deny women the right to choose.”

This usually comes from people who are unaware that Christians are more than twice as likely as the average American to adopt a child, according to a 2013 survey by Barna.

More importantly, you don’t have to personally take in every unwanted child to oppose killing them. Imagine someone using this excuse to justify killing unwanted toddlers! It doesn’t work, because a human life is a human life. Pro-lifers are consistent.

Many Christians who oppose abortion choose to adopt children, and many of those who cannot adopt for one reason or another still support adoption in other ways. That’s why in 1995 we worked closely with Sen. Fay Boozman to pass a law in Arkansas giving families tax breaks for adoption expenses. It’s a small step, but one that helps support adoption in Arkansas.

You can read or listen to Stonestreet’s entire commentary here.

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