Thread: ABORTION: Where do you stand?

Originally Posted by buriedmonsters

When, exactly, is a fetus considered a "person" to you?

Originally Posted by a random site I found on Google

I cannot give you a week of development at which a fetus DOES have a conscousness, but we can say at which point it COULD have a consciousness -- and not before.

Consciousness depends on our neurons being able to communicate with each other; all the medical evidence and understanding we have in medicine and neuroscience points to consciousness and awareness arising out of cell interactions. This being the case, several criteria must be met:

1. The neurons must be sufficiently mature to develop an action potential, that is, the electrical inequality from one end of the cell to the other which allows a charge to pass through the cell.

2. It helps if the myelin sheaths of nerves have developed. Without that insulation, nerve cells cannot transmit the charge from one end of the nerve cell to the other without it being attenuated, interfered with, or lost. This is why demyelinization diseases are so devastating.

3. The body must be producing neurotransmitters; these chemicals allow the charge from one neuron to be transmitted across the interstitial spaces between cells. Without the presence of neurotransmitters, each neuron is isolated.

And we know roughly when these things start to happen in the developing fetus, although it varies slightly from one to the next. But based on that, we can say that there is definitely NOT anything like a fully working nervous system before week 20, although spontaneous, disconnected neural activity can be observed starting about week 17

So, to answer you're question, 17 weeks (4 months of fetal development). 4 months (120 days) is enough time for someone to decide whether or not they want the abortion, in my opinion. I wouldn't hold anything against anyone who decided an abortion was necessary during that time frame. I wouldn't be very gung-ho (so to speak) about an abortion being carried out after that period of time... unless it was deemed necessary in order to preserve the health of the would-be mother.

By that point in time, the fetus is more "alive" than a plant but not more than, say, an insect. So, if it's necessary, I wouldn't have any qualms over the abortion.

To put things into perspective, this is coming from someone who honestly feels pretty bad when he steps on something on the sidewalk and even momentarily disheartened if he breaks a branch off a tree... With that being said, I can honestly say that I value life, be it human or otherwise, as much as the next guy. I'm not being selfish, heartless, or even a coward when I say I don't beleive the potential life of a fetus should be valued over that of the already living mother. In my opinion, picking something that has the potential to become conscious later on over something that is already conscious, is slightly selfish; not the other way around. Again, my opinion; don't bite me.
-----
Enough of the hostility and snide/sarcastic remarks, please. I know it's technically on-topic but some of you are straying from it just a wee bit. =/