This is true. Anti abortionists like to cite the 'Silent Scream' video as 'proof' a fetus feels pain, but this video has been shot down many times by experts.
The brain and nervous system need to develop enough in order for the fetus to feel pain, and this stage hasn't been reached until the end of the second trimester.

Just because a few babies managed to survive birth at 24 weeks or less does not mean late term abortions should be harder to obtain. When the majority of premmature babies are surviving, then you can think about lowering it.

This is something pro lifers forget. They seem to think women have late term abortions everyday, and this is simply not the case.

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I would Tarja...among other things...

If the baby is not viable, then the discussion is obviously moot.


That is where society creates a movement toward support groups of rape victims.

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Okay, lets put it another way. Lets say the mothers life is in danger, and she has more chance of survival if she aborted, than if she delivered the child. Should she take that huge risk and possibly sacrifice her life for her baby, who may or may not survive?

There is support for rape victims, but there are some women out there who refuse support, simply because they feel ashamed at what happened to them. How can we help them? Certainly by not making them have their rapists baby.

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Calling Grace She'll Never Fall Again Love Remains In Her Calling Grace
She Will Rise Again Sacrifice The Saints Still Love Remains
I'm A Tart! What! You Want Some Of This!
I would Tarja...among other things...

You have to be more clear here. Is the baby going to live or not?


If you have ever talked to a woman who has had an abortion, you would know that it makes her even more ashamed.

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I think America is finally ready for another president with polio.

You don't know if the baby will survive or not. Do you take the risk and hope that it does, or do you abort to save your own life?

Women only regret their abortions because they don't think the decision through, or they are pressured into them. I don't think you'd find many women who would say they felt ashamed for aborting - if they did, they obviously didn't think the decision through.

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Calling Grace She'll Never Fall Again Love Remains In Her Calling Grace
She Will Rise Again Sacrifice The Saints Still Love Remains
I'm A Tart! What! You Want Some Of This!
I would Tarja...among other things...

It's possible to feel ashamed for aborting whilst having thought the decision through.

I thought the decision to have my abortion through very thoroughly. Despite all the medical risks posed to myself if I continued with the pregnancy, knowing that my life could be at risk if I continued with the pregnancy, and making the decision to save my own life on the chance that I could lose it if I continued with the pregnancy, didn't stop me from feeling miserably unhappy about it, and ashamed that I wasn't prepared to take the risk and see it through.

After all, there was a chance - albeit a small one - that both myself and my baby would have survived without incident. I was actually pretty determined to take that chance. I was met with opposition from ALL sides. I was essentially talked into having an abortion.

That is how you can be ashamed about a decision no matter how thoroughly you think it through.

There are women out there who can have abortions without emotion about it. Plenty of them. But there are also plenty who can't.

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We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs, but we still can't just behave ourselves. Even if to save our own lives, we are a brutal kind. The Shins

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Calling Grace She'll Never Fall Again Love Remains In Her Calling Grace
She Will Rise Again Sacrifice The Saints Still Love Remains
I'm A Tart! What! You Want Some Of This!
I would Tarja...among other things...

Chesby, may I venture to guess something in your answer? I have a feeling that at the time, she felt like she was genuinely thinking it through and that she had made an informed, adult decision, maybe getting some advice along the way, BUT in retrospect, she sees that it was a horrible decision and that she would never have done it if she wasn't influenced by the people around her to have the abortion instead of delivering the baby and putting it up for adoption. Chesby, how accurate is this as a partial description?

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I think America is finally ready for another president with polio.

Reasonably accurate - although I would never have put it up for adoption. I wanted to have it and I wanted to keep it. I was only 22 though, and essentially wasn't supported at all in that decision. I know my parents would be terribly upset to know that that's how I feel, but sadly it is how I feel. We don't talk about it though, and this is one of those situations that, well, there's nothing I can do about it now, so I have to move on. And in hindsight if I'm completely practical about it, it was the right decision. But I still have internal conflict about it so I try not to go there. It was a long time ago.

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We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs, but we still can't just behave ourselves. Even if to save our own lives, we are a brutal kind. The Shins