Word: womb
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...slim. (Edelin's abortion produced a fetus of 600 gm. after a gestation that he had estimated at about 20 weeks.) Between 24 and 28 weeks is a gray zone in which few fetuses attain the weight or organ development needed to survive outside the womb. It is only at 28 weeks or later -when a fetus usually weighs at least 2 Ibs.-that it has a fair chance of survival and should not be aborted except for the most extreme circumstances. Despite the clearly established medical facts, the legal status of second-trimester abortions-at least...
...that outlaw abortions after the 24th week. At issue were Edelin's actions during and immediately after the operation. The prosecution charged that the male fetus, which Edelin had estimated to be 20 to 22 weeks along, was in fact older and thus capable of survival outside the womb. Once the abortion had been completed, said the district attorney's office, Edelin had an obligation to keep the fetus alive. By failing to do so, it maintained, he had caused a baby's death and was guilty of manslaughter...
...weeks of the trial brought out widely differing views about when a fetus becomes viable (capable of independent life outside the womb), as well as conflicting answers to the question of whether-and if so, when-a fetus becomes a person. The defense argued that the death of the fetus is implicit in any abortion; the prosecution charged that abortion means only the termination of pregnancy and does not necessarily imply the death of the fetus as well. Conflicting evidence was presented on whether the fetus involved in the specific abortion was viable. Dr. John B. Ward, a Pittsburgh pathologist...
...implications of this ruling are enormous. Doctors will probably continue to perform early abortions when there is no question about a fetus' inability to survive outside the womb. But, fearful of sharing Edelin's fate, they may be less likely to take a chance on late-term abortions. The Boston decision is likely to please antiabortionists, who have been trying for nearly two years to overturn or circumvent the Supreme Court's decision. But it may well work untold hardship for thousands of unhappily pregnant women, who may now find that although late abortions are technically legal...
Flanagan avoided reconciling the testimony of his eyewitness with the testimony that the fetus breathed. He never took a position on whether or not the fetus was alive when it left the womb--or more accurately, he maintained both positions, Hedging his bets, he argued for a new definition of birth. Anti-abortion spokesmen testified that a child was born--without ever leaving womb--the moment the placenta was detached from the uterine wall, forcing the fetus to "to on its own systems...