When Does Pregnancy Start? New Arizona Law Says It’s Before Conception
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Here at The Bump, we count pregnancy weeks the way OB’s usually do, starting with the first day of her last period — usually about two weeks before conception — should the government count it that way too?
Last week Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a new law that deems a woman pregnant two weeks prior to conception. The law, titled Women’s Health and Safety Act, went into effect on Thursday.
Under the new law, if a woman gets an abortion it must be performed before a fetus can “reasonably survive outside the womb” which, on average, is around 22 to 24 weeks. The new law also requires women to have an ultrasound 24 hours prior to the procedure. With these changes, women would no longer be able to receive an abortion to protect their health if an issue arose after the 24 week mark.
While some praise Brewer for taking a stance, women’s rights advocates are far from pleased. In an interview with The Examiner, Center of Reproductive Rights state advocacy counsel Jordan Goldberg implied that this new law is completely backwards.
“The law disregards women’s health in a way I’ve never seen before,” Goldberg said. “The women of Arizona can’t access medical treatments that other women can.”
Do you support Arizona’s new law? Do think this could harm a woman’s health?
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What the Supreme Court Ruling on Health Care Means for You
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I 100% agree with that law.
I did an in depth study on abortion back in college and came to the conclusion that abortion is in fact murder based on science.(I completely kept all relation to religion out of the study) I was already against abortion but this was a real eye opening study. I also did an intense study on why some women chose abortion and the number one reason is that the baby is simply not wanted. There a very few cases of rape and health that lead to abortion.
My heart aches for all the babies murdered because they were an inconvenience to the mother!
I Completely agree with you! abortion is murder! it doesn’t matter about if your health might possibly be affected being a mom is being a mom and we need to be unselfish and do whats right for our children not us!
I love Nannykiki’s comment. I agree completely. Health and rape are issues that should be dealt with individually and on a case-by-case basis, and a sweeping “everyone can have an abortion” is not the answer for anything. Anyone who makes any stand against abortion is a-okay in my book.
Women’s Rights are not more important than human life.
Also, I appreciate the article, but not the one-sided take on it.
But I guess it’s a blog, not a news source. Carry on.
Women’s right ARE human life.
Your “right” ended at conception.
Nannykiki i totally understand what you are saying. but why have a kid when you don’t want it? If i got pregnant and didn’t want it i would get rid of it because i knew i would not love it the way it deserves to be loved.
Don’t get pregnant. I am 27 years old and do not want children yet. I have made sure that I have never gotten pregnant. Your right to chose ends at conception.After that it is murder. Unfortunately in our society, it’s a legal form of murder. I doubt most people do the kind of research that I have on the subject or it would have never been passed in the first place!
accidents happen and in some situations its what’s best for the people involved and abortion is not murder.let me set up a situation: lets say you got pregnant at 19 and it was diagnosed with tasac disease and it would die anyway if you really loved that child you would have an abortion to save it from the pain that it will feel
Abortion is murder no matter how you word it. I would never have one. Even if I got pregnant through rape. It’s murder and it’s wrong. My 15 year old niece has a son from when she was raped at the age of 13. You know what, abortion was never even an option. She is a great mother. Her life would be easier without have a small child but she works hard and provides a great life for her little man.
If were me and even if the child had some sort of disease, it still wouldn’t make abortion a right option. I would morn the loss of my child but I would never murder it. EVER.
You say it’s not murder but look up the scientific definition of what a fetus is. Use reputable references. Then go and research what murder is. You will see that by definition, abortion IS murder.
How do you ‘accidentally’ get pregnant? Sex is not an accident and protecting yourself against getting pregnant isn’t an accident either.
I’m confused. If a woman has a medical complication after 24 weeks, why don’t they just deliver the baby instead of aborting it?
If doctor’s consider you pregnant before you really are, why shouldn’t the law take its cues from the medical community?
Why is this a big deal?
I agree totally with the law. If you get pregnant and don’t want the child you can very easily give that child to a couple who can’t have their own. There are a lot of people who would adopt and love that child the way he/she deserves to be loved.
This is about CHOICE. That’s the issue. We may not be able to imagine a case where a medical issue might arise that would require an abortion this late, rather than an extremely early induction, but that doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t happen. Arizona has taken any options away from those mothers. And delivering at 24 weeks? Here are some sobering facts:
Less than 1% of children born weighing less than or equal to 500 grams survived to be normal(that is, “unimpaired” at 18-22 months)
By gestational age: <1% at 23 weeks are unimpaired;
< 5% at 24 weeks;
about 15% at 25 weeks, and
about 24% at 27 and 28 weeks
So Arizona will be forcing women and families to support children with potentially extremely intensive needs. Not to say that many, many families don't love, cherish and adore their children with special needs, or that women in Arizona wouldn't, but shouldn't they have the choice about accepting that kind of life (to whatever extent is possible)? And the state will end up supporting most if not all of these children anyway, as they will need services, most of which will end up being subsidized by the state to some degree (I speak as a health care professional providing some of these services to these kinds of kids).
These are just a few of the reasons why this is a "big deal."
So we should just throw children away because they aren’t perfect? They do that in China… They kill baby girls cause they would rather have a boy. I see no difference.
I think there should b room in the law to allow for a medical exemption. While every life is precious, I support womens rights.
What other stupid laws can Arizona come up with? First their immigration profiling law, now this?
My body, my rules. If I could die because of the pregnancy resulting in two deaths, I at the very least deserve the option to choose.
How does this make any sense?? How can a law “deem” that im pregnant BEFORE I am?? Someone made a good point on FB about this; “How about the law makers stop trying to control our vaginas and our uteruses and focus on bigger problems… like child hunger or something important…”
Krista, you make my heart ache. Have you ever heard of condoms or adoption? Or is killing a child on the top of your to do list?
proud mother, yes i have heard of condoms but they are not 100% effective now are they. and there are soooo many children in the system already i would not want to put another one in it. and getting a abortion would not be murder. i have the right to choose what to do with my body and if the state would not do it i would go to one that would especially if a test came back positive for some incurable thing that will cause the fetus nothing but a short and painful life
It is Murder. Study what a fetus actually is. look at pictures of each day that it is growing. Study what abortion does to the baby and to the mother. It is a fact that if something is alive, then it IS growing. When you stop it from growing, you are killing it. Killing a defenseless fetus because it would be an inconvenience to you is wrong. I don’t care if it’s legal or not, it is wrong.
you just don’t get it and you have no right to shame a women for doing what is best for her
I am not shaming anyone. murder is murder. Killing unborn babies is murder. I do get it because I have actually taken the time to study all the facets of abortion. I
I feel so bad for women who have had abortions. The emotional toll must be really hard. Don’t put words in my mouth. I am stating facts. Educate yourself on abortion.I already have taken the time to do so.
i am educated on abortion i am a doctor and i am pro-choice and i have had an abortion and don’t feel bad for me it was the best choice i have made because if i didn’t have one i would be dead right now
I find that really hard to believe based on you other posts. Even if you are, it does not mean that you are educated on abortion. Since this has turned into a full blown argument which is not what I intended, I will no longer respond to you.
*your
i am a real doctor and i’m a specialty in OBGYN so i know more than what you think you know about it. maybe you should keep an open mind and not shove your beliefs down peoples throats
Like I said, this argument needs to stop, because, it is going nowhere.I really don’t want to argue with someone on the internet that I do not know. I find it even harder to believe that you are an OBGYN. Look at the way that you type and present yourself. You sound more like an angry college student.
I am sorry that my posts offended you but I only posted what I know to be true, based on the extensive research that I have done.
Please, lets just go our separate ways. I don’t think this argument is good for either of us.
what’s wrong with the way i type?
Did you know that it is legal in case of late term failed abortion (baby was still alive) to leave the child on the table without any help gasping for breath until he dies. That is what women rights stands for, to be able to do whatever she want with her own body,not thinking aout killing a human life….
If the mother’s life is threatened, I think she should be able to choose an abortion, it is either choosing abortion or choosing suicide.
It seems kind of ridiculous to give a woman 6 months to make a choice and then when the child could survive on its own to object to a law that won’t let you kill it. If you have 6 months to decide on abortion legally and know what your time limit is I don’t imagine many women could honestly say they would want to obtain an abortion past that point even if the child was an irresponsible unplanned pregnancy. Making abortion illegal at the point at which a baby could possibly survive outside the womb is a very positive step in the right direction.
Abortions that result from moms with previously unknown health problems or pregnancies resulting from rape are statistically a small minority. And while I feel for those women forced to make hard decisions, I cannot say that killing a child is the best solution. No one says it has to be carried to full term if mom is ill, and no one says it has to be raised by the birth mom if she was raped, but that child has done nothing wrong. Don’t we as women need to own up to our biological role as mamas and make choices for our children and not for ourselves? Most abortions are a last resort to deal with a bad decision. Maybe we should spend a little more time and effort teaching the young women of our society how to make better lifestyle choices and we wouldn’t have such high abortion rates to begin with.