Suranis wrote:
Quote:
This is a sodding non issue meant to inflame the stupid and ignorant. This woman is accusing the entire medical profession for the last 2 hundred years as declaring women perpetually pregnant! No, it doesn't mean that the abortion bill is pushing the cutoff date back to 18 weeks. Her "experts" saying otherwise are Snap, Crackle and Pop.
I can't believe you all fell for that rubbish.
Yes, it does mean that Arizona is pushing the cutoff date back to 18 weeks and two weeks earlier than any other state. You are also incorrect on how 'gestation age' has been calculated and what it means. One of the excuses for forcing women to undergo an ultrasound is to determine the actual gestation age as opposed to a guess based on the last menstrual period (LMP) from which two weeks has normally been deducted but can vary widely.
Here's is a link to see what the states have been doing and which definitions they have been using:
http://www.guttmacher.org/media/inthene ... index.htmlQuote:
Gestational Limits
Legislators in 14 states have introduced legislation that seeks to restrict abortion later in pregnancy—but prior to fetal viability. In 10 of these states (FL, GA, IA, LA, MI, MN, MS, NH, VA and WV), the provisions would ban abortion at 20 weeks postfertilization, which is the equivalent of 22 weeks' gestation (as pregnancy is conventionally measured, which is from the woman's last menstrual period). These restrictions are based on a 2010 Nebraska law that has already served as the model for laws in five other states (see State Policies on Later Term Abortion).
The proposed provision in Georgia has passed the legislature and is awaiting signature by Gov. Nathan Deal (R). It would permit an abortion after 22 weeks' gestation only in cases of life endangerment, possible "substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function" or fatal fetal impairment.
Legislators in six states (AZ, FL, NH, NJ, OK and SC) have introduced provisions that would ban abortions at other points in pregnancy: 18 weeks postfertilization in Arizona and Oklahoma, 22 weeks postfertilization in New Jersey and South Carolina, 25 weeks postfertilization in Florida and during the third trimester in New Hampshire.
OB/GYN specialists use calculations based on the LMP and consider 38 weeks as the length of the normal pregnancy in order to calculate the due date.
http://www.drpettit.com/index.cfm?i=9282&mid=5&id=88110It is novel and controversial to define gestational age as beginning two weeks before conception using the LMP as a starting point. Doctors do not agree on whether the pregnancy actually begins at fertilization or implantation which is a controversy in itself since a fertilized egg will not develop until it is implanted.
It all will end up in court and most of these restrictions will fail to meet the guidelines set out by the Supreme Court.
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Mark TwainQuote:
Research shows that 87.666 per cent of all statistics are made up.