So here's a hot one: new abortion info.

JAMA recently published an article on fetal pain. (Here's the abstract; if you have university library access I'm sure you can get the full text if you're interested.) Whereas anti-abortion groups claim that fetuses (feti?) can feel pain as soon as 20 weeks; they are using this to try to get legislation (S. 51 and HR 356) passed which would require counseling to women seeking abortions (both verbal and written) and the offer of anesthesia for the fetus during the abortion procedure. JAMA's article, following in the footsteps of Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in London, who judged that fetuses could feel pain at 26 weeks, declared that fetuses most likely cannot feel pain before 28 weeks.

Now, according to the CDC, 58% of all abortions are performed at or before 8 weeks. 88% are performed at or before 13 weeks. Only 1.4% of all abortions are performed at or later than 21 weeks. Therefore, I will assume that most abortions performed after 28 weeks (7 months!) are probably medically necessary or they would have been performed already. I hardly think that counseling about fetal pain at this point will make any difference in the decision. In addition, seriously. The only reason that the anti-abortion crowd is crowing about this 20 weeks number is because they enjoy using it as one of their scare tactics, just like their Silent Scream video (see PP's take on this one).

So I'm kinda thinking that this legislation is a waste of time and money, because it SHOULD, if applied correctly (ie to abortions being performed post-7 months) affect a minute number of abortions.

Another implication of this bill is that it defines gestational age (to 20 weeks) as dating from fertilization, NOT from implantation, which is the medical definition. This isn't just a little quibbling detail. It means that it will be encoded in law that "life begins at fertilization" and that anything which impedes that - such as emergency contraception (or even many forms of "normal" contraception, like birth control pills) - which impedes the growth of a zygote or its implantation - is equivalent to abortion.

Other data and opinions I found in my research that I thought were interesting:
It is judged that 30-50% of all women in America have or will have had at least one abortion during their lifetime.
"The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as a combined emotional, sensory and physical experience. Some doctors believe the emotive aspects may not be possible until birth." -- Interesting take, right? I think that leaves a lot of discussion there.

So this board is now open for commentary. Or rants about the Atlantic. Whatever. But I just spent 45 minutes researching and writing this post, so I'm going to go pack a box. And perhaps I'll come back later to talk about 2 mommies.