Quote:
Originally Posted by MorTech
Simply put: A potential person is not an actual person. Personhood begins at birth.
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I believe personhood begins at viability. If a woman is in her 8th month of pregnancy and is NOT in labor, and there's something wrong with the placenta that would kill mom if she doesn't have that baby early - then she should be induced or a c-section performed. Not aborted.
If, on the other hand, something is wrong with the baby and their heart isn't pumping, their kidneys are misshapen, their pancreas not formed enough to function after birth, their brain stem still hasn't fully attached, or their cerebrum never grew enough for the baby to be born and live independent of machinery - even if this isn't discovered until the 9th month - then abort, not birth. That baby is UNviable.
Whether a child can be removed from the womb and live without machinery, or live at all - that to me is what determines personhood.
In addition, there are problems with wording on some laws in this country that imply that a doctor performing a D&C on ANY woman - could be charged with a crime.
D&C is a common method of abortion between the first and second trimester. It is ALSO how I was able to ensure that the doctors had gotten ALL of the cancerous cells from my cervix. I had to have a D&C twice a year for a couple of years after the cone laser surgery. If a doctor ran the risk of being arrested for performing this surgery on me, I might have been dead. I wasn't pregnant at any point during this period in my life. But the procedure itself is up for judgment in some parts of the country.