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F ORG E1- THE SE A. LS ,.

Around this tine of year, many cmscience— stricken individuals are deploring the cruelty of the seaJhmt. What blatant hypocrisy is there in our society, when its citizens get nore concerned over the hunting of baby seals than the slaughter of baby hunans. Many side-step the issue by referring to the latter as "enbryos" ' or "fetuses"; these are sinply words used to chtach meself from

at twenty- days, the . foundaticn of the entire nervous system has been laid down. .

By twenty—four‘days after conception, the heart Beats regularly - this is a 1393a} Sig of life. At twentybei 1: days there are forty pairs of muscles &veloped along the trunk (arms legs forming.) It is at this time that the earliest pregnancy testing can take place, although it is not fully reliable.

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ARTIST RENDERING

OF A SIX AND ONE HALF WEEK 0L1)

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acknowledging an unborn child for exactly what it is - an unborn child. Cellular developnent begins immediately with fertilization. Even before the fertilized 7 ovum inplants itself in the wonb, its sex can be determined. Upm inplan— taticn — five to nine days after conception - the new life is carposed of hundreds of cells. Even by this tine it has developed a protective honmne to prevent its mother's body as rejecting it as foreign tissue. (The Intrauterine Device IUD - prevents the fertilized ovum fran‘ inplanting itself in the lining of the worth. 'Jhis device, since it causes each month a spontaneous shedding of the newly— conceived daild, is not a nethod of birth control at all; rather, it is an abortificant.) In seventeen days, the embryo has developed its own blood cells; at eighteen

days there are occasional .

pulsatims of the muscle that beccues the heart. Within the next day, the eyes begin to develop, and

. At thirty days, there is (a regular blood flow

and ear and nasal developnenthas-begm. men the diil'd is forty days old, the energy output of his heart is almost 20% of‘that of an adult. mo days later, the skeletbn is couplete and reflexes are present. At this age, one might say that the cbveloping baby looks like it could be the embryo of any animal. However, one need only

use a microscope to see that each and every cell of the body has forty—six chrcnoscnes - a characteristic which makes the embryo undeniably

human. (He can be nothing '

else.) Around this time, electrical brain wave patterns can be recorded. 'Ihis is evidence that thought processes are - taking place.

At forty-nine days, the new life resenbles a miniature doll, possessing complete fingers, toes and ears. At fifty-six days, the name is changed: the "embryo" is now referred to as the "fetus" . All organs are functiming

(stomach, liver, kidneys, brain) . 'Jhe new life possesses all necessary parts for living; it, like any other living person, requires only nourishnent. At ten and eleven weeks, the baby squints, swallows

and retracts his tmgue.

If the fluid surrounding him is sweetened, he will swallow more; if it is

made sour, he,will - just

anybaby - quit

swallowing.“ Within the next few weeks his and legs Hove; he sudcs hi his thmb; and inhales and exhales anniotic fluid. . , I

'Jhe baby is to light, heat, noise and touch. ('Ihis was . determined by very sophis- ticated experiments closed circuit X—ray 'IV cameras by fetologist A. Wm. Liley of New Zealand.) At eleven weeks the baby will recoil with pain if pricked by a needle. If the pain is preceded by a beeping noise a few times,

the baby begins to recoil

at the sound of the beep; (Presence of intelligent activity enables him to anticipate ;

'lhe sixteen—week—old \

fetus, a foot long and weighing nearly a pound, will grasp his hands, kick .and turn smersaults. As the fetus approaches the eighteenth and _

twentieth weeks of life,

the vocal chords are working (cries are muffled by. fluid) and hair appears m the head. '

_ The youngest surviving baby lmown (as-of. April, 1973) isMarcus, Richardsm, who was born January 1, 1972 in Cincinnati, approximately eighteen weeks after his conception. Marcus-is a catpletely normal, healthy child. Acwrding to the laws of the United States and Canada, however, an eighteen week old fetus isth hmlan. While doctors worked to make sure tiny Marcus lived, others were busy making

7 sure babies his age — and

older — did not.

'me most comm method used to dispose of an unwanted unborn child, in the early weeks of pregnancy, is referred to as the "suction method". A powerful suction tube is inserted into the uterus through the vaginal tract. The developing child is

" and blew 5 19:)

' source of nourishment, the

placenta, is scraped and sudced fran the wall of the mtfi. 'Ihis nethod in\75—80% of all abortims in U.S. and Canada) does nuch damage, to the man (although this isn't often nenticned in the public press): 10% of wmen who have had one suction performed in good conditions, because; sterile; .r in " subsequent pregnancies

the dances of having a - ttbal pregnancy escalate from 1/2 g ‘to 4%} the risk of (uninduced) miscarriage in‘each - . subsequent pregnancy rises 10%, as does the chance

of premature birth. Is it surprising that‘those _ undergoing abortions are

. never-infomed .of these ‘ ‘ _facts?? '

There is another type of suction (but not ' used to the high incidence of infection A snell catheter is Often .small pissesof, the

.- t‘flldlcedé If Titre ' .' '7},

larger pieces cannot fit thrmJQh the small catheter (the larger pieces are removed by forceps.)

In the D & C (dilaticn and curettage) method, the opening to the uterus is stretched-and a sharp cutting instrunent is used

~ieces. These ,"pieces" are reassenbled by an O.R. nurse to make sure no pieces have been left in the watt), (as this could cause the to , renorrha‘ge' and becone infected.) The D a C