Well at least to me a fetus is not really a person yet. Also let’s not forget that some abortions are for women impregnated by their rapist so in that case I think it’s definitely justified to get an abortion.
What makes a person a person? Who decides what falls under that definition? Is it justifiable to subject a fetus to the kind of pain that they experience during an abortion? Would not the same done to another non-person, such as a puppy, be considered horrific cruelty?
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/07/fetal_pain_is_a_lie_how_phony_science_took_over_the_abortion_debate/
Interesting, though you may want to get in the habit of finding more credible sources, not tabloids, to substantiate your claims, like:
http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=201429&resultclick=1
(The first Google result when I searched “fetal pain”).
Partial-birth abortions are still pretty horrific. I also suspect that people would think it cruel to perform saline injections on fish, or to cut them to pieces while they are still living, despite their inability to feel pain in the way we do.
That’s funny you think I used a non-credible source, because the Salon article links directly to the same jama paper you linked to. First sentence in the “Conclusion” section:
Evidence regarding the capacity for fetal pain is limited but indicates that fetal perception of pain is unlikely before the third trimester.
I’m sure you’ll consider NPR a biased source as well, but you might want to read up a little on “partial-birth abortions” (politically charged term btw) to see how often they’re done. (granted this is 10 years old but I’d be surprised if the percentages have changed much)
http://www.npr.org/2006/02/21/5168163/partial-birth-abortion-separating-fact-from-spin
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights research group that conducts surveys of the nation’s abortion doctors, about 15,000 abortions were performed in the year 2000 on women 20 weeks or more along in their pregnancies; the vast majority were between the 20th and 24th week. Of those, only about 2,200 D&X abortions were performed, or about 0.2 percent of the 1.3 million abortions believed to be performed that year.
And contrary to the claims of some abortion opponents, most such abortions do not take place in the third trimester of pregnancy, or after fetal “viability.” Indeed, when some members of Congress tried to amend the bill to ban only those procedures that take place after viability, abortion opponents complained that would leave most of the procedures legal.
JEDIT: Here’s more recent numbers (most recent I could find) from the CDC.
In 2012, 699,202 legal induced abortions were reported to CDC from 49 reporting areas. The abortion rate for 2012 was 13.2 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years, and the abortion ratio was 210 abortions per 1,000 live births.
Compared with 2011, the total number and ratio of reported abortions for 2012 decreased 4%, and the abortion rate decreased 5%. Additionally, from 2003 to 2012, the number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions decreased 17%, 18%, and 14%, respectively. Given the large decreases in the total number, rate, and ratio of reported abortions from 2011 to 2012, in combination with decreases that occurred during 2008–2011, all three measures reached historic lows.
Women in their twenties accounted for the majority of abortions in 2012 and throughout the period of analysis. The majority of abortions in 2012 took place early in gestation: 91.4% of abortions were performed at ≤13 weeks’ gestation; a smaller number of abortions (7.2%) were performed at 14–20 weeks’ gestation, and even fewer (1.3%) were performed at ≥21 weeks’ gestation. In 2012, 20.8% of all abortions were medical abortions. The percentage of abortions reported as early medical abortions increased 10% from 2011 to 2012. Source: MMWR. 2015;64(10).
By the way, look how fewer abortions are occurring. This is great news…no one want abortions. I just want the option available.