Medical Science Challenges the “Viability” Rule for 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.

Pro-Life and Adoption

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.

News Release: Poll Shows Arkansans Oppose Same-Sex Marriage and Abortion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Little Rock, AR — On Tuesday the University of Arkansas released its annual Arkansas Poll. Among other things, the poll indicated Arkansans’ views regarding same-sex marriage have not changed in the past year, and the overwhelming majority oppose abortion in all or most cases.

Family Council President Jerry Cox released a statement saying, “This poll shows Arkansans still support traditional marriage and are deeply pro-life. Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said same-sex marriage should not be recognized. That’s on par with past polls. Arkansans still believe marriage ought to be the union of one man and one woman, and these poll numbers reflect that fact.”

Cox said the poll shows Arkansans soundly reject the idea of abortion on demand. “According to the poll, eighteen percent said abortion ought to be illegal under all circumstances, and sixty-one percent said it ought to be legal only under certain circumstances. In other words, seventy-nine percent of Arkansans believe abortion ought to be completely illegal or legal only in a few cases. When you look specifically at likely voters, those numbers jump up to eighty-one percent. Arkansans overwhelmingly reject abortion, and Arkansas’ lawmakers have passed a lot of legislation protecting the lives of unborn children in recent years. I believe that is one reason abortion in Arkansas has fallen to the lowest levels since the 1970s, and abortion among teenagers is near an all-time low.”

Cox called the poll’s findings good news, saying, “Most Arkansans support traditional marriage, and they want to see unborn children protected. Those are things Family Council is committed to. We look forward to continuing that work in the future.”

Family Council is a conservative education and research organization based in Little Rock, Arkansas.

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