Pro-choicers - At what stage in development do you consider a human embryo to be a person?

Actually that's a very good question. I agree with you, most people would look at a 9-month fetus, fully formed, ready to be born, viable outside the mother's body, and say yes, that's a person. But I think most reasonable people would look at a zygote, a fertilized egg, one cell, invisible to the naked eye, with no heart or brain or other organs, and say no, that's not a -baby-. Pro Lifers call a fertilized egg a 'fetus' and that's wrong too.

I've heard a compromise position that I kind of like. The developing pre-born human begins making brain waves around 10 weeks. It's only after that that it can feel fear and pain. If we allowed abortions 'on deman' up to 10 weeks, that would give a woman 6-8 weeks to find out she's pregnant, and a week or two to talk it over with her doctor, her husband or boyfriend, her family, her minister, and made a decision.

Basically it would be a little stricter than what we have now. Up to, say, the end of the 1st trimester, you could get an abortion. After that you'd need a good reason (serious birth defect, danger to the health of the mother something like that.)

Since abortion became a partisan issue in 1980, it seems to be that politics has trumped reasonableness. The GOP has no intention of banning abortion because that would cost them a valuable issue. They've passed up many opportunities to make a compromise that would at least mean fewer abortions for the time being, in fact the rate of abortions performed in the US rises under Republican presidents and falls again under Democratic presidents. If you really want to stop abortion instead of just using it as a political slogan, you're going about it the wrong way!

The same as when a body is dead, Brain activity.

Week 26

Eyebrows and eyelashes are well-formed.

All parts of baby's eyes are developed.

Your baby may startle in response to loud noises.

Footprints and fingerprints are forming.

Air sacs form in baby's lungs, but lungs still aren't ready to work outside the womb.

Weeks 27 - 30

Baby's brain grows rapidly.

The nervous system is developed enough to control some body functions.

Your baby's eyelids can open and close.

The respiratory system, while immature, produces surfactant. This substance helps the air sacs fill with air.

Weeks 31 - 34

Your baby grows quickly and gains a lot of fat.

Rhythmic breathing occurs, but baby's lungs are not fully mature.

Baby's bones are fully developed, but are still soft.

Your baby's body begins storing iron, calcium, and phosphorus.

Birth.

When they breath on their own or with the aid of a machine. In other words, at birth. That is when a baby becomes legal and insurable.

I really don't get all emotional about the legal choices other women make. Not my womb, not my business.

When it's capable of surviving outside of the womb, at about 22 weeks.

Almost all medical expects say a fetus is not viable prior to about 24 weeks.

And that is what the current law also has determined.

Haven't you already asked this? And we told you that we think the woman has the right to make this decision, not the government and not you. And the Supreme Court agreed over 40 years ago. Let it go.

Age of viability. When they are breathing on their own

Not a big fan of the late term abortion except in very special cases.

I go with the Bible on that, specifically the book of judges, roughly 1 month before the birth is due.

I got some human spum you can save