method is performed up to twelve weeks into the pregnancy. 'lhus, the unborn - who possesses a completely formed skeleton, complete and functiming organs, a system, ten miniature fingers and toes, and ai'beatin heart - can be up into pieces and "Vacmmed up" .5. . .IEGAIIX ! same fetus. that recoils at of a needle

"pridtis considered a "non-person“., There 'are those who will say, "but even a rat can be ‘ I

\ conditioned to make a .

particular response? - but

does a rat have a cell'strl'JO

ture composed of forty -six 1

d1rarosat1és? Does a rat

have its begirmings in the

'unicn ofahuman spermand oyum? ‘

. When a woman has been pregnant for twelve to

(sixteen weeks it is extremely dangerous (to her) to attempt to abort the unborn child. Consequently, abortions are

' seldom performed within this period. However,

. after sixteen weeks, there is another method usedto terminate theme»! life.

_'1he pregamtwwm-dlies on

. herback, while a 1019 needle is inserted through the abdaninal wall into the amniotic fluid around the baby. Sate of this fluid is withdrawn and replaced with a salt solution - "salt poiscning"

~ or "saline amniocentesis" abortion. 'Ihe unborn baby "breathes" in the solution; struggling on' the part of the baby can, sometimes be felt by the mother. An hour later - he ’.' lies still, his ceases. Since

he is now considered "dead"

he must have been "alive".

I MDT“?

L .

L

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nu\Jx—JLy—JLMJLngw

to begin with. A day after the injection, the mother

a raw red-looking baby; the salt solution burns and strips away the entire outer layer of skin! . Because of their appearance the victims are often referred to as "candy apple babies". Occasionally it happens that a burned In later mmths of pregnancy an aborticn often takes the form of a CaeSarian section. 'me baby is removed by way of an incisim into the abdominal Wall. The umbilical cord'is cut and the baby is dropped into the bucket to die.

How-then can anyme still ‘

that abortion does not destroy a human

life? At the mment of

concepticn, there comes into existence anew living being, undeniably

human in its genetic ~

make—up and inheritance. At that marent of . conception everything is decided — color of eyes and hair, likes and dis- likes - everything! Everything is determined by which twenty-three duromosomes‘ he takes from eadn parent. It is a perscn, not merely apart of a » woman's body over which she

- has a"right to exercise

control." ,

Some maintain that life does not begin at ‘ conceptim. When, them does it begin? when all organ systems are fmctiming? 'men "life" would be said to begin at eleven or twelve weeks. When the entire body is cmplete‘ly formed? Go had: me week. If, how-

ever, one chooses to

believe that it begins when brain'waves are detectable (a popular measure of ‘ "'life" these days) .then six weeks after conception * would to be the dividing line bebneen "life" and' "non—life" . "Viability", that is the ability to maintain existence outside the wutb, is often used as the dividing line for humanity. However, viability is a wishy—washy standard - a cop out from taking a responsible moral positim on a critical issue. Its flimsiness is easily illustrated: many years back premature babies had

. J

‘ history.

The SUN,“ITnJrSday,D/larch 9,1978,page 11

.5. SAV Ex 1 TH E B-A BI ES.

a high mortality rate.

. Any. eight—nonth baby a goes into labor and delivers

century ago would probably have the chances of a six

'months one today.

Premature babies have . greater chances of living today because of more extensive lmowledge and Viability is not a measure of humanity, rather it is simply a reflection of the care and competence of the physician. 'lhe rapid advance of technology will reduce the‘viability age.

reason for aborticns is that many women "do not Want" the drildren in their mrbs. What about those who "do not want" those they already have?

’Whidn leads to the ridiculous proposal‘ that easily datainable abortims will lead to a decrease in d1ild batter- ing. In other words, the woman who is likely to beat up 'her child after it is born can get the doctor to kill it before it is born. (Reduces Es pain

While society develops more effective methods of decreasing premature birth mortality, it similtaneously develops

v moreeffective methods of

tenninating pregnancies. 'lhey are fighting equally to fill one crib and keep another empty. The contradictions are blatant. 7 Few people still protest for "abortion to save the life of tremother". This situation is ancient

'lhe argmentis irrelevant.

Since we have already established that the unborn

_.child is a person, posing

the question of "mother- survival" places one in a slightly altered moral dilemma; it is requiring one to make a value judgment between the life of an unborn child, and the life of a woman. An- other arbitrary decision. Anyway, this is not important here, because it is not why millions of babies are (if one will permit the severity of the verb.)

Why then? 'Ihe main

for it somehow.)-

'lhere seems no necessity for dismissing, in sequence,'the other "good reasons" people have for killing an unborn baby. 'Ib allland any, one must only ask, "Would you kill the same baby, for the same reason, an instant after it was born?"

Indeed, the argument that the world is over— populated could be similarly used in defense of euthanasia or infanti—

- cide. The latter, a

parctice only slightly different from abortion, is curiously condetmed universally. (Inf-anti? cide is the killing of babies who have already survived the birth process.)

Yes, it seems unbeliev—l able that a people who ‘ have carpaSSim even for a seal-foculd Ingestion- ingly assent to the slaughter of a baby in the warbf. ‘

BY VALERIE more AND \MXRSI‘RGAUDEI‘