Life groups are hailing an opinion by an Alabama Supreme Court justice who argued that it's time to abandon the viability standard used in Roe v. Wade because medical breakthroughs -- backed by case law and legislation -- have shown a fetus is only as viable as the technology monitoring it.
The opinion by Judge Thomas Parker was issued Friday in the case of a woman who sued her doctors for wrongful death when her baby died in the womb while only three months in gestation.
The Alabama Supreme Court threw out a DeKalb Circuit Court summary judgment in favor of the defendants that held the wrongful-death action could not be maintained because the unborn child was not viable.
Parker wrote that the Supreme Court "erroneously" concluded in Roe that the unborn have no rights as "persons," but since 1973, mounds of cases have been decided in tort and criminal law in favor of babies with prenatal injuries "regardless whether the injury occurred either before or after the point of viability.
"Roe v. Wade is an island by itself and that island is getting smaller and smaller and that perimeter is eroding," said Matthew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit legal group dedicated to sanctity of life and religious freedom issues.

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- Public Discussion (12)
I find it very interesting, as this came from FOX News, that although the article is about a 3 month pregnancy, they are showing a sonogram of almost a full term pregnancy....think they wasn't people to make a connection there.... i.e. "see what a 3 month pregnancy looks like?"
- 5 votes
I find it interesting that they - in every other case - willingly abandon science.
Except here.....
- 3 votes
You are dead wrong, rescue dogs. A 12 week old fetus does resemble a full term pregnancy in the sense of looking fully human, although obviously much smaller than it will be at term. That's why it's called a FETUS as opposed to an embryo. By definition, a fetus has completed the period of organogensis (organ fomation). Plenty of us have had sonograms at the standard age of 16 weeks, which is only 4 weeks later. We've watched our children actually sucking their thumbs at that age, even though they won't be born for another five months.
- 2 votes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWrsUpydrlo
Sorry, Oom but that does not resemble a full term pregnancy, and it's certainly not even close to the graphic that Fox used.
- 1 vote
It's an ultrasound, not a photograph, for crying out loud. I see a baby when I look at that video. Yes, it's head is large, but even a full term neonate has a "disproportionately" large head compared to an adult. Most pregnant women have the ultrasound at 16 weeks, when there is very little difference in external appearance. They can rarely resist laughing and "waving" to the image on the screen as they watch their fetus suck its thumb, as they often do. I did take a class in embryology at a very good PUBLIC (and thus secular) university. Even the professor admitted that the right to life photos aren't fake. They're very real. If everyone took the class I did, nobody would ever feel the same about elective abortion.
Starrie Decisis. Roe V. Wade is a a settled point in American law. Time to refocus on divisive social issues. Let's use this energy to address creation of jobs and improving the economy.
- 1 vote
Starrie Decisis. Roe V. Wade is a a settled point in American law.
Nothing is set in stone. The Supreme Court has reversed itself many times.
- 1 vote
Oom,
I know what your position is on birth control and abortion, but tell me truthfully, does that look like a 3 month pregnancy to you.?
- 1 vote
rescue,
well if you haven't been keeping up with 'being human' werewolves apparently gestate much faster than humans do, so that could be a 3 monther of a werewolf. Don't you think?
yeah I know silly, but no more silly than anything Oom has to say.
- 1 vote
Jonathan,
Please remember CoH. Can disagree with the position of a poster, but not attack or disparage the poster. Thanks.
At 1/3 to 1/2 ounce it is hard to claim viability.
Here is a good pic of a 12 week fetus (10 week gestation).
10 weeks after conception
(12 weeks after the last menstrual period)
- The fetus is about 2½ inches long from crown to rump and weighs 1/3 to ½ ounce.
[ View Picture ]- The fetus makes small, random movements, too small to be felt.
- The eyelids form and cover the eye. The eyes remain closed for now.
- The fingernails appear on the digits.
- 2 votes
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