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According to the little weekly email I get about this little one, she now weighs approximately 1 pound and is 11 inches long... the size of a squash. Oh, and, she has eyelids. and eyebrows.
Back at 12 weeks, though only 2 inches long, her reflexes developed.At 13 weeks, she had finger prints.
At 14 weeks, she learned to squint, frown, grimace, pee, and suck her thumb. That was a big week :)
And now, here we are. 22 weeks down, 18 to go. (Give or take a little.)
In 9 states, it is still (at 22 weeks) legal for me to obtain an abortion because their limit is based on a later week than 22. (In some, it is legal until 24 weeks and in others, it is legal until the 3rd trimester begins at 28 weeks.)
In 22 other states, it is also legal for me to have an abortion at this point in my pregnancy because their limit is based on the viability of the baby, when she could survive on her own if born, which is generally considered to be somewhere between 23 and 24 weeks. (The earliest premie baby to survive was born at 21 weeks and 5 days. She spent 5 months in neonatal care, and went home completely healthy, a "medical miracle," according to the doctor.)
This is my baby at 20 weeks.
It churns my stomach & brings me to tears to research and write about it, but it's necessary. My perspective on the level of importance of this issue has changed. I will likely be writing more about it in the future. But for now, I think one question is all I want to ask.
Is that baby pictured above a human?
Don't let people fool you into thinking that question is complicated.
It's a yes or no question.
Some yes or no questions are complicated.
This one is not.
Is that baby a human?
