Here is an image of my grandson, taken at 13 weeks 2 days. I haven’t met him yet, but soon. If that’s not a human then what is? Quite how some people can claim he is just a ‘clump of cells’ defy’s logic. Have they never seen an ultrasound of a baby? Is it not obvious which part of him is his face, his nose, his arm?
I am not hardcore either way on the abortion issue but as far as I’m concerned, 13 weeks is too late. Make no mistake, even by this point, you are killing a human baby. For Labour, NZ First, The Greens and National to be all arguing about whether we should be allowed to wantonly kill little guys like this at twenty weeks rather than twenty-three weeks disgusts me.
My grandson is now 29 weeks grown and the little guy is kicking my daughter’s insides about, we can see his heart beating, he is viable outside of the safety of her womb. Quite how anybody could consider killing a baby at this stage is beyond me, let alone up to delivery.
Yes, I get it that there are occasions when awful decisions have to be made. I get it that there are all sorts of considerations that come into it. I get it that there will be all sorts of medical, mental and ethical decisions that would have to be made for late-term abortions to be authorised. But I don’t understand how it could be countenanced that someone like my grandson could be killed at thirteen weeks let alone twenty, simply because the Mum didn’t want him anymore.
For sure there is more discussion needed to be had regarding this issue and I guess that by National voting for this bill at first call, that will allow that to take place. But also for sure, the New Conservatives are on the right track calling out the haste that we are seeing here. As they say, abortion should be a rare thing.
I can only hope that people can look past the rhetoric, the sob stories of young mothers lives ruined and the party politics and make a sensible reasoned decision for all New Zealanders, including the ones yet to be born.