Can I live

Abortion limit should be reduced because foetuses feel pain before 24 weeks MPs told

By DANIEL MARTIN
Last updated at 08:30 29 January 2008
www.dailymail.co.uk

A foetus aborted after 20 weeks may feel 'excruciating pain'

The upper time limit for abortion should be reduced from 24 weeks because foetuses can feel pain before that time, a scientist told MPs last night.

Professor Sunny Anand from the University of Arkansas was invited to the Commons to present evidence that the part of the brain which can feel pain develops at around 20 weeks.

He said it was very likely that foetuses aborted beyond that stage of pregnancy could feel 'excruciating pain'.

Parliament is debating the abortion laws for the first time in almost two decades, with the upper age limit a key battleground.

The Commons meeting was organised and chaired by Nadine Dorries, a Conservative MP and former nurse.

She is a member of the Commons science and technology committee, which carried out an inquiry last year into the abortion laws.

The report concluded that there was no scientific basis behind calls to reduce the upper time limit for abortion.

But Mrs Dorries, who says the upper limit should be 20 weeks, said scientists from the pro-choice lobby had been ignored.

Last night she said: 'Only pro-abortion evidence was allowed. That is why I have organised this meeting, to put the other side of the story to MPs.'

Earlier yesterday, on the BBC's Today programme, Professor Anand said: 'After 20 weeks of gestation it is very likely that the foetus will feel the kind of pain that occurs from the crushing of body parts or dismemberment or other invasive procedures that occur during foetal surgery or abortion.

'The foetus cannot speak for itself, so we have to deduce this from certain types of foetal behaviour.'

Pressure has mounted on the Government to review the law because of the rising number of terminations. Last year there were 194,000 in England and Wales, up from 176,000 in 2002.

MPs will vote on the abortion laws in late February.

Last night Lords were due to debate an attempt to ban the abortion of foetuses which show signs of minor disability after 24 weeks.

Normally, abortions are not allowed beyond 24 weeks but they can be carried out up to 39 weeks if tests show the baby would be born with a 'serious disability'.

There is no definition of 'serious', however, which has led to terminations for a club foot or cleft palate.

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300 Dollars that's the price of living - What?
Mummy I don't like this clinic
Hopefully you'll make the right decision
And don't go through with the knife incision

It's amazing that they're even considering changing the law on this, but this article still left me cold. Their argument was that because foetuses feel "excruciating pain" before 24 weeks, the time limit should be dropped to below 20 weeks. They seem to think that once a foetus begins to feel pain, it is human. What a stupid way to define a human being. So now I know that because I feel pain, I am a person. Take away my sense of pain, and I become less than a person, without any right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is their point. They are quite willing to allow abortions to take place, to kill innocent babies, so long as those babies can not feel the murder.


I'll always be a part of you,
Trust your soul know it's always true,
If I could talk I'd say to you,
CAN I LIVE
CAN I LIVE

To watch the movie of the Can I live song, click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AqPRcF7ZC0

Competition :)

Been writing an essay for a yr 13 competition. This is it...

Fear. It's an ugly word and one that has the capacity to destroy your life. Some people use it as a manipulative weapon, for others it's a way of life. These people believe that fear is cowardice and are ashamed of it, so they hide it. Being afraid of something has a self-destructing tendency; hiding it won't solve the problem. I used to be afraid of what people would think if I really said what I believed, if I didn't conform to everyone else's opinions of what I should be like. Only recently I discovered that being afraid to be yourself weakens who you are and is a form of slavery. I know that, but it doesn't stop me being too scared to tell people I'm a christian or to invite them to my church. I'm not ashamed of what I believe, I'm scared of what other people think about my beliefs; I want to be different and I also want to be accepted.

1807 was the year that saw the abolition of the slave trade. It also saw a man who was not afraid to voice his opinions to the world and who would not stop speaking until that desecration of human rights, the slave trade, was abolished: That man was William Wilberforce. He shouted passionately at complacent England to do more than talk about the slave trade. He shook them up by showing them the hard facts of what they were so willing to consent to. In our fear of getting out of our comfortable lives we allow problems that we could have stopped to go on unchecked. I think of all the times I could have stood up for what I believed and made a difference, but didn't, and am ashamed that at those times in my life fear ruled.

The heroes of our history and those of today are people who overcame their fear and did the right thing, regardless of what other people thought. They cared what people thought, like us, but that didn't stop them from acting on their beliefs. They spoke and acted for those that couldn't and became greater people by doing it. These people got their priorities right and made their decisions based on what they knew was true. You can't become great overnight; it's the little decisions that you make at the beginning that lead to big consequences. If we lose our fear and make the right decisions, we can change the world.

Ignorance and fear are linked: people tend to be afraid of what they don't know. In the end though, it's not what we didn't know that matters, but what we did with what we knew. We are responsible for acting on the knowledge we have. What we do makes a difference, even though we may never see the difference that we've made. Our lives may never make a big impact on the world, but on the other hand, one decision that we make could change the course of history. We are the people who are creating the future of the world, so let's make it a good one.

hmmm...