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I think I am very unusual in the sense that I believe abortions should be tax-paid, free to everyone, and pregnancy tests should also be free.... BUT I also think abortion should be very limited, to something around the first **10 weeks** at most.
I've had both right and left leaning folks loose their shit over that. Always entertaining
@freemo@qoto.org Why 10 weeks? I've read that consciousness likely begins at 22 weeks, and that's when they would be able to feel pain. So 20 weeks would probably be more apt for the limit?
@trinsec 10 weeks is when neurons form and fire.
@freemo@qoto.org That's not telling me much. Even snails have neurons and people flatten them every day without thought. 😋
@trinsec its all we have. consciousness and other higher forms of thought are unknown to us and purely speculative. All we know is prior to 10 weeks there is no brain so no moral issue.. .after 10 weeks there is and the morality is no longer clear.. how underdeveloped does a brain have to be before murder becomes ok? Id rather stick with the science and go with the one line we can objectively measure without moral ambiguity
@freemo@qoto.org Reading elsewhere: "When one's 24 weeks pregnant, the baby has a chance of survival if they are born. Most babies born before this time cannot live because their lungs and other vital organs are not developed enough."
For me that's a good enough cutoff. Before 24 weeks, they're simply.. blobs of meat which wouldn't survive, and thus cannot really be called individuals. Basically tumors before they become potentially useful. 😋
So I think around 20 weeks is a generous cutoff.
@trinsec Life viability doesnt seem relevant here for me.. two reasons 1) the mother by not getting an abortion in the first 10 weeks (remember pregnancy tests are free so no excuse in this scenario) they are choosing to make a life dependeant on them for 9 months. That choice makes them responsible to see it through in my eyes since you put the child in that risk to begin with.
@freemo@qoto.org Shrugs. Difference of opinion. Plus pregnancy tests aren't free here. They're cheap, sure, but not free.
@trinsec I am describing a scenario where abortion is limited to 10 weeks which is only viable with free pregnancy tests.. without free pregnancy tests then I couldnt support a 10 week pwerioud.
@freemo@qoto.org I'm being practical. When 24 weeks is the minimum for being viable for life, and close to 22 weeks is generally seen as the start of being able to feel pain.. then 20 weeks is for me the generous cutoff to give that fetus a chance.
At that stage it isn't an individual imo (before 24 weeks), so it wouldn't be murder in my eyes. It is not even a baby yet, it is a fetus. A baby is when it is born.