Infantacide_in_America

In the 1970’s Roe v. Wade brought the topic of abortion to the homes of America. This landmark court case made it legal for women who found themselves pregnant to terminate the fetus without any legal repercussion. These procedures must take place prior to the 28th week of gestation. According to the NCBI, prior to the 28th week, the fetus is not considered to be a viable human life (NCBI, 1997). Yet science still defines the beginning of life at conception (Derr, 2010). The American Pregnancy Association tells us that everything present in a full grown adult is present in a 3-week-old fetus (Derr, 2010). While most everyone has their own opinion on abortion, the one common ground many people have pertains to the human life that is legally protected after the 28th week. Yet, every day, innocent babies die at the hands of medical professionals sworn to protect them. These babies are abandoned by parents unwilling to deal with their physical problems or developmental disabilities. In a landmark case from 1982, Baby Doe was born on April 9th with a moderate to severe case of Down Syndrome. His parents refused to allow a physician to correct a congenital defect in his esophagus that prevented Baby Doe from feeding. Medical personnel, torn between their own conscience and hospitals regulations, stood by and watched and Baby Doe died of starvation six days later. The decision from hospital administration was that the parents had the right to refuse medical care for their newborn son (RNC, 2001). However, it was not only nourishment that Baby Doe was deprived of. He was deprived of love, of care, of compassion. He died in pain and alone. This story is not uncommon. In March of 2001, Jill Stanek, a labor and delivery nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois, testified before Congress regarding her personal experience while working at Christ Hospital. As a labor and delivery nurse, she witnessed physicians performing live birth abortions where labor is induced, the baby is delivered prematurely, and, if still alive, left to die on the operating table (RNC, 2001). Yet this is not considered murder in this country. Many people would react with anger and outrage over stories such as these. They may ask how a baby can be treated in such a manner. After all, once the child is born is he not a citizen of the United States' Protected under the rights of the Constitution' The answer would be NO. Every day the practice of infanticide is legitimized in the United States. Infanticide runs from partial birth abortions in the cases of multiple fetuses to a teenage girl, afraid of what her parents will say or do, leaving her newborn child in a trash can. We live in a society where Congress has fought to protect life under the legal definition. As we all know, the term fetus is used to describe one stage in the development of a human being. While still in the womb, he is called a fetus, but once delivered he is no longer called a fetus but as a neonate, a newborn, or the more familiar term, BABY! We all know that the life of a fetus is not protected under the law in our country because, as the Supreme Court said in Roe v. Wade, he is not a person born or naturalized and therefore does not come under the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment. We now have discovered that for 26 years, babies who are delivered alive but considered not viable are designated as fetuses, not children. Is that the answer to how unwanted little babies at Christ Hospital can be legally abandoned and left to die' If a woman has an abortion after 28 weeks, she has committed a crime in the eyes of the law, the law that was established to protect the innocent children of this country. Where was this law for Baby Doe' Where is this law for each one of the babies left on a cold steel operating table at Christ Hospital' And even more important, when are the citizens of this country going to refuse to tolerate such hypocrisy and demand that our children be protected' References Derr, M. K. (2010, 09 27). When does the fetus become a baby' Retrieved 01 24, 2011, from Livestrong: http://livestrong.com Orn, P. (1997, 01 22). When does a fetus become viable' Retrieved 01 24, 2011, from NCBI: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9053639 Unknown. (2001, 03 23). When does a fetus become a newborn baby' Retrieved 01 24, 2011, from Republican Coalition for Life: http://www.rnclife.org/faxnote