Word: fetus
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...woman's immune system displays an exquisite amount of control that a man's cannot replicate. It's still not clear why, but the female body's defenses tend to mount more aggressive responses to invading marauders; then, during pregnancy, this response is dampened considerably to accommodate the fetus. Perhaps owing to this on-off intensity, women are more prone to developing lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, all conditions in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue. Researchers are just beginning to study why estrogen might cause the defense system to rev into overdrive in these cases...
ANOTHER REASON TO QUIT Especially for moms-to-be. A major study warns that smoking during pregnancy--even in moderate amounts--can increase the odds of miscarriage 80%. Cocaine also puts a fetus in the danger zone: it raises miscarriage risk 40%. Both habits reduce blood flow to the uterus--and are of course unhealthy in other ways...
Unfortunately, Tobin then proceeds to characterize abortion as a religious issue. For a long time, this approach has conveniently allowed supporters of abortion rights to dismiss undisputed biological facts about human development. Indeed, at the time of its abortion, each fetus is a human being with a unique genetic code...
Although a fetus may look different from a human adult, so do newborn infants, toddlers, adolescents and the elderly. Human growth and development occur along a continuum, not in fully distinct and separate stages. Because there is no significant developmental change in the fetus from one day to the next, any point chosen for the termination of its life is necessarily arbitrary. Such scientific facts indicate that a fetus is entitled to the same Constitutional protection afforded to a newborn infant, from whom the fetus is separated in age by less than nine months of development...
Finally, for expectant mothers: Bebe Sounds ($29.99 by Unisar in New York City). Hold its little amp up to your belly, and listen in on the headphones as your fetus flops around. Even I was tempted to buy one--to listen to that tongue sandwich I had for lunch...