Turns out that by the third week of the third trimester, unborn children can form memories. American Papist addresses the obvious question, that is: what implication ought this to have on the abortion debate?
It’s pretty weird that unborn babies can remember things. Pretty strange and confusing memories, I would imagine (“it is very dark… where am I?”). It’s kind of mind-blowing to think about recording memories without a language, since for mature humans, memory and language are pretty inseparably tied together. I mean, imagine reading a baby’s mind for a minute, and you’ll see what I mean. Perhaps more dramatic, from about 26 weeks, scientists believe (it’s sort of hard to know) that the child can feel pain.
In other news, PBS (really? PBS?) suggests that pro-lifers are domestic terrorists, because secretly we must all be glad that Tiller is dead.* They run a lot of abortionists claiming this about pro-lifers, and don’t actually mention the pro-lifer’s stated views on Tiller’s death. Note also that one murder in more than 8 years now means that “Abortion Providers [are] Under Siege.” Does it matter that the countless children he murdered were self-aware enough to remember things, and to feel pain? Would he be lionized any less if people stepped back and thought, “Wow. One murderer killed another”? Because regardless of an individuals’ stance on the ridiculous question of “personhood,” a viable, self-aware infant being brutally murdered by sole virtue of its geographic location (in or out of the womb) seems mighty arbitrary. Even humane pro-choicers should be furious and vocal at the barbarism of the Tillers (R.I.P.) and Carharts of this world, not just in the vigilante nuts who murder them.
On a more upbeat note: check this video out. Seriously.
*To get an idea of how balanced the program was, read the comments. All the pro-choicers say things like “thanks for exposing pro-lifers as hypocrites,” or “thanks for the balanced programming,” while every pro-lifer complains that the program was sensationalist and biased. Of course, it’s easy to think that the program was balanced, because in the words of one pro-choice comment, “In truth, pro-choice IS and always has been the common ground side.” Common ground now means “pro-lifers, concede on all points, and let us do whatever we want.” Our president must feel so proud.