Life begins at…?

If you want to drive yourself bonkers, start thinking deeply about life. What is it? What does it mean? What is its purpose? Why are you here? When does life begin?

When does life begin? The question at the heart of America’s abortion debate is the most elemental — and the most complicated. This article from NYT is the most comprehensive look at this scientific, philosophical, and theological question I have ever read. Skip my blog and read this.

Andy Borowitz says life begins when you leave Arkansas. He has a point. The Alabama Supreme Court in deference to the loony tunes who think zygotes and embryos are humans, went one step further and declared 8 cell frozen embryos to be human. This immediately put IVF in jeopardy and IVF clinics started closing shop before they were guilty of murder. The Alabama House and Senate recognized the problem for women from using IVF who wanting to get pregnant but unable to. They are passing laws that declare embryos are only human beings after they are implanted in the uterus.

An 8 cell embryo, ready for IVF transfer

A human embryo or...?

Heretics, recognizing the stupidity of declaring embryos to be human made a great deal of fun asking for example if they could claim child support or be an income tax deduction. The forced-birthers responded. Lawmakers in at least six states have proposed measures similar to a Georgia law that allows women to seek child support back to conception to cover expenses from a pregnancy. Georgia also allows prospective parents to claim its income tax deduction for dependent children before birth, Utah enacted a pregnancy tax break last year, and variations of those measures are before lawmakers in at least four other states.

A few red states are even recognizing that if they are forcing a woman to give birth, they need to provide more in the way of pre- and post-natal care. Which is progress of sorts, I guess.

There is a huge fuss about how late in pregnancy abortions should be allowed. Everyone seems opposed to third trimester abortions. There is no such thing as “late term” abortions, a term crafted by anti-abortion extremists that holds no medical merit. In pregnancy, to be "late term" means to be past 41 weeks gestation, or past a patient's due date. Abortions do not occur in this time period, so the phrase is contradictory," According to Dr. Barbara Levy, vice president of health policy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Abortions later in pregnancy are typically carried out due to either "lethal fetal anomalies or threats to the health of the mother," and to make the decision to abort is devastating to make but can ultimately save a life.

Pete Buttigieg summed it up better than anyone.

Why am I writing about this? Because Canada has six Conservative Premiers and one Prime Minister wannabe set on destroying Canada.