Fetus May be Conscious Long Before Abortion Limit

But how long does it take for conception to occur after sex? I honestly have no idea.

 

THAT SHOULD BE THE APPROACH!! Not condemnation...but love. And an alternative to abortion.

I totally agree with this. The common anti-abortion approach of screaming "murderer" and "God hates you" or whatever is ludicrous. Really, will that change anyone's mind?

A better solution is this, if you're anti-abortion. Your target audience tends to be liberals, more-or-less. More often than not, you can reach liberals through an emotional appeal - and calling them murderers isn't going to do it. Why not bring out people who were nearly aborted before their parents changed their minds? Have them talk about the life they are living which they would never have had the opportunity to live otherwise? If anything, that's the emotional appeal that will affect people in a positive way and discourage them from having an abortion.

 

RM95,
It can happen right after sex, if the timing and conditions are all right.

Bobrek,
Do you feel the same about other forms of contraception? Isn't sperm a living organism? (Not picking an arguement or anything, I'm just curious.)

 

For the most part, I believe that fertilization occurs relatively instantaneous, however the sperm can live for a while prior to an egg being released. After the egg is fertilized (conception) it makes its way down to the uterus to eventually 'implant' itself where it will continue to grow. The morning after pill is designed to prevent the implantation.

 

Hey, don't scare him like that. RM95, I believe it takes at least an hour of sperm swimming and searching, but I don't know for sure. Definitely conception has probably happened before "the morning after" in any case.

 

So, does conception just include the fertilization of the egg, or does it also involve implantation?

 

Yep I do. I do attempt to practice what I preach/believe.

 

Fertilization is considered conception (at least by pro-life advocates). I believe it is also 'medically' considered conception. I would assume that some would argue that until the fertilized egg is implanted in the uterus it is not viable. So the answer is yes by some and no by others.

 

One reason abortions are some much lower in Britian and other W European countires is they have a full court press about contraception until you are ready to have a child (e.g., mothers will take their adolescent daughters to go get on the pill usually around 16 or 17 and definetely by 18).

Untill we create a perception in America that it is normal for late adolescents to use contraceptives even if they are not planning to be sexually active we are going to have unfortunately high abortions, unwanted preganancies and many kids with adolescent mothers you don't have the skills to best care and look out for them.

I don't think any person or political group actuall wants more abortions to occur. If we could get pro-lifers and pro-choices working equally hard towards making contraception normal and expected for adolescents I think both their political and personal ends would be best achieved.

 

I am fairly sure conception medically is defined as an implanted fertilized egg. The morning after pill I think usually but maybe not invariable works before the egg is implanted.

 

Actually, the Church of Euthanasia claims abortion as one of their central pillars, but then again, I think they are some sort of performance art joke. Not sure.

 

Yet another good reason to look at the Netherlands. They teach sex ed at a young age. They also boast the lowest rate of teen pregnancy, abortions, STDs, etc.

 

I recently read some worldwide abortion figures and now here is a thread where I can post them. Not really an argument of anykind...just useless information:

*Slightly more than 20% of pregnancies end in abortion worldwide and 35 for every 1,000 women of childbearing age have one.

*Spain has the lowest rate at 5.7 abortions per 1,000 women.

*Vietnam is the highest at 83.3 per, followed by 78 per for Romania, 77.7 per for Cuba, and 68.4 per for Russia.

*Over 40% of all abortions (about 20 million) a year are illegal.

* For some reason, many of the countries with the highest restrictions on abortion have some of the highest rates - probably because these are poorer countries.

*Europe generally has the lowest rates, with only France and England coming close to the 20 per 1,000 range.

*The US is somewhere around the 25-28 per 1,000 range.

*20% of women in prison in Nepal are there for having abortions.

*13% of pregnancy-related deaths of women are due to abortion. Africa is the highest with 680 deaths for every 100,000 abortions. Developed countries are at a rate of .2 to 1.2 deaths per 100,000.

a little different:

78% of geneticists said they would abort a fetus in the first trimester if it was found to have down syndrome. This would be for themselves, not for others.

Does something like that change anyones view (similar to if the woman would die while giving birth) in regards to abortion? What about other diseases...what if the child would be born in pain, live in constant pain, and die within 5 years? Would you abort and feel you were saving suffering or would you keep it and hope for a miracle, etc?

 

I think only in cases where the life of the woman is in jeopardy can you make that choice. No other time.

 

I wasn't being argumentative, either..just wanted people's opinions and to see if those who were for/against in the case of mother's death would respond similarly for this other question. I, personally, was shocked to see the 78% figure for geneticists. Down syndrome is actually one of the better bad diseases, often much more liveable and there are even actors with down syndrome, so I felt it was harsh.

Personally, I wouldn't abort...of course, i also don't really want the fetus to be screened or even to know the sex of the child pre-birth, anyway...so who cares.