Word: fetus
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...begins the film Silent Scream, a 28-minute, shock-the-viewer indictment of abortion. The movie, distributed by American Portrait Films of Anaheim, Calif., depicts through ultrasound imaging what happens in the womb during the abortion of a twelve-week-old fetus. The images are grainy and vague, but Narrator Nathanson provides explanation. "The child," he says, "senses aggression in its sanctuary" and moves in an "agitated" manner away from the surgical instruments in a "pathetic attempt to escape." Its heart rate $ increases as it "senses mortal danger," and, he notes, pointing to a fuzzy image, it opens its mouth...
While the fuzzy ultrasound is being shown, the narrator holds up a plastic doll which is many times larger and more developed than the fetus in the film, deceptively implying that the fetus looks just like the doll. He also says that the fetus is 12 weeks old, while in conventionally used terms (measured by last menstrual period rather than gestation) it is actually 14 weeks old. In the U.S. about 93 percent of all abortions are performed by the 12th week, when the fetus is extremely small and undeveloped. To further confuse the viewer, the film occasionally shows dramatic...
...crux of "The Silent Scream" (is its implied contention that the fetus can sense pain. The Crimson reporter seems to buy this line when she writes that "presumably, the fetus reacts to perceived or potential pain." The film very carefully builds up this impression through visual tricks and manipulative narration. What it lacks, however, is a basis in fact...
...enough developed to pass messages to the brain, and the brain itself does not develop until then the cognitive structure needed to perceive pain or aggression or to perform "purposeful action." It is especially irresponsible for the narrator of the movie to assert that a 12-week fetus could experience pain. Dr. Edwin Myer, chairman of the department of pediatric neurology at the Medical Colege of Virginia, says "that the fetus feels pain is a totally ridiculous statement. Pain implies cognition. There is no brain to receive the information...
...deliberate manipulation to obscure the real issues. How we decide the abortion issue ultimately comes down to how much we respect women as independent and free human beings. The film shows astonishingly litle respect for the lives of grown women. A uterus is not a "sanctuary" for a fetus, just a bunch of muscles surrounding a fetus, as the narrator suggests; it is part of a woman's body and of her person. To subordinate her to the interests of a fetus is to turn her into a baby-machine...