Fetuses are incapable of feeling pain when most abortions are performed.
b) Access to legal, professionally-performed abortions reduces maternal injury and death caused by unsafe, illegal abortions.
c) Abortion gives pregnant women the option to choose not to bring fetuses with profound abnormalities to full term.
II. Body 1
a) "Most neuroscientists believe that the cortex is necessary for pain perception," according to Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The cortex doesn’t become fully functional until the 26th week of the fetuses development.
b) Most abortions happen before the 22-24 week limit and will only abort the fetus after the 24 week for serious medical reasons.
c) "Fetuses cannot be held to experience
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Body 2
a) Before abortion was legalized women would try and go unsafe routes by using coat hangers, knitting needles, radiator flushes or going to unsafe abortionists.
b) In 1972 there were 39 maternal deaths from illegal abortions and when abortions were legalized in 1976 it dropped down to 2.
c) 68,000 women die of unsafe abortion annually, making it one of the leading causes of maternal mortality.
IV. Body 3
a) Some fetuses have such severe disorders that death is guaranteed before or shortly after birth.
b) Even in the case of nonfatal conditions, such as Down syndrome, parents may be unable to care for a severely disabled child "many couples don’t have the resources, don’t have the emotional stamina, and don’t have the family support [to raise a child with Down syndrome]," Deborah Anne Driscoll, MD, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania.
c) Advances in medical technology now enable doctors to identify disabilities within the early weeks of pregnancy. It is common practice for the doctor to recommend an immediate legal abortion.
V. Conclusion
a) It’s been proven that fetuses are incapable of feeling pain when most abortions are performed when they are done in the right period of