This is My Abortion

My wife pointed me to a disgusting story from The Guardian.  A woman was upset that protesters were showing her pictures of her fetus outside of an abortion clinic, so she snuck off a few shots of her own abortion and posted them at http://www.thisismyabortion.com/.

From here page:

My intention in documenting and sharing my abortion is to demystify the sensationalist images propagated by the religious and political right on this matter. The perverse use of lifeless fetus photographs are a propaganda tool in the prolife/prochoice debate in which women and their bodies are used as pawns to push a cultural, political, and religious agenda in the United States.

Alright, so here are a few things things about the life that was inside that do not come from a propaganda site.  Here's what's been growing inside, based on information from http://www.pregnancy.org/ and www.babycenter.com/.

• Gender - the baby was either a boy or a girl on the outset of fertilization
• Heart and Circulatory System - the fetus developed a blood flow separate from that of the mother within the first four weeks of development.  By Week Five, the baby's heart was beating, though it may not be heard by the ultrasound until Week Six.   
• Umbilical Cord - the delivery system for oxygen and nutrients and waste removal forms in the fifth week. 
• Nervous System - not only was there a developing brain, but nerves extending throughout its tiny body.  
• Internal Organs - in addition to what was a beating heart and obviously a functioning brain, Week 6 was the time to develop intestines and a pancreas, meaning that the child was able to process its own sugars with enzymes and insulin production.
• External Features - the fetus was no larger than the tip of a pen, which is probably why this woman did not notice it in the bloody mess.  However, it had nostrils, eye buds with developed lens, and budding arms and legs, which means the tiny life form indeed looked increasingly infant-like in appearance, just as those "propaganda" images indicated.

In other words, it was already its own, maturing person, not a mere part of a woman's body.

What we have to mourn here is not only the murder of another tiny life, but someone's rationalizing that murder openly before the world while she encourages more of the same.   She said she was "haunted" by the images of the protesters, which indicates that part of her knew the sheer awfulness of her act.  

Oh, phew - the dead fetus was too small to see floating behind glass in that gore, so that makes it okay, right?