Kerby Anderson

George Will asks an intriguing question in a recent column. “What would America’s abortion policy be if the number of months in the gestation of a human infant were a prime number—say, seven or eleven?” He asks that because we artificially divide the nine-month pregnancy into three trimesters. The Senate will soon consider the bill passed by the House that would put additional limits on abortion. Those who are what he calls “pro-abortion absolutists” are disproportionately Democrats who say they are the “Party of Science.” They complain that the Department of Health and Human Services now refers to protecting people at “every stage of life, beginning at conception.” George Will reminds us (and them) that this is not a theological statement but essentially elementary biology. Life begins at conception. “And absent a natural malformation or intentional intervention (abortion), conception results in a human birth.” In the famous abortion case in 1973, the high court put forward a trimester policy and only allowed governments to limit abortion after viability (which it stipulated arrives at 24 to 28 weeks). The current Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would restrict abortion after the 20th week. [It is worth noting that only seven nations allow unrestricted abortion after 20 weeks. Most European nations restrict abortion by at least the 13th week. France and Germany restrict abortion after the 12th week.] Can we get a scientific answer to the pain question? If the answer is yes, then the “Party of Science” should vote for the bill that has been sent to its chamber. Of course, we know that nearly all Senate Democrats will vote against a restriction that exists in most European nations. That is why George Will’s column is titled, “Democrats are the real abortion extremists.” Science and medicine are presenting some inconvenient truths to the “Party of Science.” It is worth keeping this in mind when Senate Democrats work to prevent even a vote on this bill.