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From: wetcw@pyuxa.UUCP (T C Wheeler)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Food for Thought
Message-ID: <634@pyuxa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 19-Mar-84 09:44:42 EST
Article-I.D.: pyuxa.634
Posted: Mon Mar 19 09:44:42 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Mar-84 01:58:32 EST
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 27

Last Thursday, a child was born in New York City.  The child was 9 inches
long and weighed 14 ounces.  The child was born after only 16 weeks of
development in the womb.  The child lived until Sunday, when it died
of a cerreberal hemmorage.  This child was born 8 weeks before the
end of the second trimester which means it still could have been legally
aborted at any time.  Now, for all of you who are arguing over this issue,
was it a human being or not?  If not, why?  The birth of this child has
raised an uproar in this area concerning abortion.  Think about it a moment.
If medical expertise is advancing at such a rate that a four month old
fetus(?) can survive outside the womb (for even three days), where does
this put the 24 week abortion cutoff?  

I still have mixed feelings about abortion, but, with this latest episode,
I am begining to lean.  The question of rape or incest are one set of pro-
blems, deformity or other abberations are another, while out and out
abortion for the purposes of birth control are still murder in my book.
As medical science advances, how long will it be before a fetus can be
taken from its mother and survive at less than 20 weeks?  Right now,
nurses and doctors report that many fetuses are born live and have to
be euthanized after an abortion has been performed.  Just sit back and think
about what we are doing.  BTW, has anyone thought about what the rights 
of the Father are in some of these cases?  There have been a couple of
court cases so far, but I don't recall reading the outcome.  It seems
that some of the more vehement pro-abortion at any cost advocates have
not given up their "me generation" outlook on life.

T. C. Wheeler