By Scott Tibbs, August 26, 2013
Abortion-rights advocates were furious when Texas passed legislation to ban abortion at twenty weeks, and Texas state senator Wendy Davis became a national heroine to abortion-rights advocates for her filibuster against it. Several states (including Indiana) have already banned abortion after twenty weeks.
The legislation has been described as "extreme" and as a direct assault on Roe v. Wade. But who are the real extremists when it comes to banning abortion at twenty weeks? Search Google for "fetus at twenty weeks" and you will see some amazing pictures of the developing baby. This is not a blob of tissue or a single cell we are talking about here - this is very clearly a baby. Twenty weeks is the midpoint of pregnancy, also commonly known as five months along.
Heroic Media drove this point home with an advertisement designed to encourage people to pressure their state and federal legislators to support a ban on abortion at twenty weeks.
The vast majority of abortions take place in the first trimester, and the American people - even many who are uncomfortable with abortion - generally support the "right to choose" in the first trimester. After that, support for "abortion rights" drops rapidly. Gallup pointed out two years ago that a poll showed that 52% of pro-choice Americans support banning abortion in the second trimester, while 90% of pro-life Americans agreed. (I would really like to know who the other 10% of "pro-life" Americans are.)
Twenty weeks, of course, is deep into the second trimester.
So who are the extremists here? Are the abortion opponents "extreme" for opposing the killing of what photographic evidence tells us is a fully formed (if not quite "viable") baby? Or are the extremists the ones determined to protect the right to kill a baby in the womb five months into pregnancy? Are the extremists the ones who will stand and speak for hours and hours on end to the point of physical exhaustion to defend the "right" to abortion at a stage when even most pro-choice Americans do not support them?
The answer is obvious.
