What does the bill actually say?

"The bill bans the abortion of a fetus that is at or over 20 weeks of gestation, except in cases of medical emergency. It also states that gestational age should be defined as "the age of the unborn child as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman."

That starts the fetal clock an average of two weeks before the fetus actually exists. The purpose of a menstrual period is to get rid of an unfertilised egg, plus all the tissue that has built up in the womb to support it. A new egg typically reaches the uterus two weeks later. In practice, the law therefore bans abortions as early as 18 weeks into the fetus's development."

Does that definition of gestational age make any sense?

"More than you might think. Most doctors count how many weeks a pregnancy has progressed starting from the woman's last period.

"It's been the convention for generations to measure the length of pregnancy from the first day of the last period," says medical ethicist Farr Curlin of the University of Chicago, Illinois. He says it is hard for women to pin down what day fertilisation may have occurred, but can easily remember the first day of their last period."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21721-arizona-decrees-pregnancy-starts-before-conception.html

I'm upvoting for the expected batshit crazy comments to come regarding abortion and religion.

>> ^Sagemind:

What does the bill actually say?
The bill bans the abortion of a fetus that is at or over 20 weeks of gestation, except in cases of medical emergency. It also states that gestational age should be defined as "the age of the unborn child as calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman."
That starts the fetal clock an average of two weeks before the fetus actually exists. The purpose of a menstrual period is to get rid of an unfertilised egg, plus all the tissue that has built up in the womb to support it. A new egg typically reaches the uterus two weeks later. In practice, the law therefore bans abortions as early as 18 weeks into the fetus's development.
Does that definition of gestational age make any sense?
More than you might think. Most doctors count how many weeks a pregnancy has progressed starting from the woman's last period.
"It's been the convention for generations to measure the length of pregnancy from the first day of the last period," says medical ethicist Farr Curlin of the University of Chicago, Illinois. He says it is hard for women to pin down what day fertilisation may have occurred, but can easily remember the first day of their last period.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21721
-arizona-decrees-pregnancy-starts-before-conception.html


I can pinpoint about when a woman got pregnant. The gestation period for a fetus is 10 months (I know pretty crazy huh...but it is). So 10 months ago from the point at which they gave birth and the fetus becomes a Human Being, that is when they have gotten pregnant.

It's interesting to me all this talk about weeks and months when "God" gives us a nice perfect line in which to judge these things. Birth. When you are born is when you cease to be a part of your mother and have to crawl out of the womb ready to join the workforce. So lets stop arguing about viability of the fetus...if Conservatives cared about what doctors had to say they would've paid attention in school. Life begins at Birth, fuck off.

I loved what Cenk from TYT said about all these anti-abortion bills, basically conservatives will do anything to make getting an abortion difficult or illegal but once that foetus is born they couldn't give a flying fuck about what happens to it.

Menstruation is murder!