When is it a baby?

At what point is it a baby? This is the central question that the courts and people have been trying to answer when it comes to the abortion debate. Why is this question so important? Simply because we as Americans tend to think of ourselves as humane. We don’t want children beaten, taken sexually advantage of, or killed, and if the squealing blob of flesh in front of us is a baby many people have problems killing it, but if it is just a part of a woman’s body, then we can justify removing it– even if its destined form is a baby.

This reclassification of what a pre-born baby is was brought about to allow just such a rationale for women in “crisis pregnancies”– those that are unplanned for whatever reason. The mother’s bond to a child is something that no male can possibly comprehend– we don’t carry the child for 9 months, we don’t nurse it, and most of the time we have to be encouraged to change the diapers (though it’s not as bad as the dads you see on T.V.– at least, most of the time).

So, we tell ladies that it’s a blob of flesh, a part of you like your appendix, and we say it over and over until you believe it. Then it’s easier to tell you that we can remove it for a cost (which we want the government to pay) and everything will be great– though it rarely is.

As technology has improved, we see that it’s not so easy to say that it is just a baby when it’s outside of the womb. In fact, ultrasounds were showing that the little baby in the womb had hands, feet, a heartbeat and brain activity sooner than we thought. Then miracles of science allowed the baby to survive outside the womb earlier and earlier. Enter 4D ultrasounds that show in peach colors a three dimensional view of your child, and things aren’t as black and white.

There’s pressure on the government to reign in abortion on demand in any trimester as facts come out about the procedures. Most can no longer stomach a procedure that brings all of the baby but the head out of the birth canal and punctures and sucks out the brains. The people want this procedure banned.

Nurses were reporting even more gruesome things– babies born alive that were left to die in soiled utilities rooms. The government swings into action passing the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. However, not all politicians back this act. Senator Barak Obama constantly stalled the act in Illinois as a state senator.

So, when is it a baby?

• If conception– what about the birth control pills that prevent implantation?
• If when it’s in the uterus– is there any time an abortion is valid?
• If it’s just when you can see it breathing– how do you explain your attachment to it and the fact that it’s thinking and doing the same kinds of activites you do?