Word: fetuses
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...holding on to the table," she recalled. "It was worse than having a baby." It was also emotionally unsettling. One nurse in Kings County Hospital made a point of telling her "what a pretty little boy" had just been aborted, though Valada had asked not to be told the fetus' sex. Mothers in the maternity ward, where she was sent to recover, treated her like a pariah. 'They would just look at me." said Valada. "and the looks could tell me what they were thinking...
Comparatively few who seek abortions have strictly medical reasons, such as their own health or suspected congenital abnormality in the fetus. Rape and incest account for a negligible percentage of unwanted pregnancies. Women seek legal abortions for the familiar reasons: reluctance to interrupt career plans, lack of money, fear of losing personal freedom, uncertainty about their relationship with the man involved...
Some states have gone far beyond the A.L.I.'s model. An 18-month-old Hawaii law allows unrestricted abortion of a "nonviable" fetus for any woman who has been a resident of the state for 90 days; a 14-month-old Alaska law permits abortion up to the 19th week for women who have lived in the state for a month. A Washington State law, adopted last December by voter referendum (56% to 44%), removed all restrictions on abortions through the fourth month of pregnancy...
...Saline induction, which is used between the 16th and 24th weeks of pregnancy, is one of the more drastic means. A doctor inserts a needle through the patient's abdomen into the uterus, draws off most of the amniotic fluid in which the fetus floats and replaces it with a salt solution. The saline substance kills the fetus, and then a miniature labor begins-with real pain-and continues until the fetus is expelled some 24 to 72 hours later...
...several recent scientific discoveries in the field of molecular biology. One was the identification of the enzyme hexosaminidase-A, the lack of which causes Tay-Sachs disease. Another was the development of a technique for taking cells from the amniotic fluid, the clear, amber liquid in which the developing fetus floats, and analyzing the cells for the presence-or absence-of the essential enzyme. The most important step, however, was perfecting a simple blood test to identify adults who carry the defective gene but are themselves unaffected...