Not fetuses, babies, actual born babies, that their moms want and have decided they're ready to have, and want to love and care for, the 12.5% of babies that are born premature in the US, which has the greatest rate of premature births in the developed world.
High rates of premature birth are the main reason the United States has higher infant mortality than do many other rich countries, government researchers reported Tuesday in their first detailed analysis of a longstanding problem.
http://www.cdc.gov/...
Why are so many babies born premature in the US?
Oh, gosh, can we guess?
Could it have something to do with the fact that the moms of these babies are poor and have no access to health care?
Oh, golly, it could in fact have something to do with that!
Poor access to prenatal care, maternal obesity and smoking, too-early cesarean sections and induced labor and fertility treatments are among the reasons for preterm births, experts said.
http://www.physorg.com/...
What can ameliorate poor access to prenatal care, maternal obesity and smoking? How about access to health care? Yeah, that might help. But why save these babies from death? And why try to prevent the premature birth of the babies currently born prematurely who, as they grow up, will be more likely to suffer from
short and long term complications, including disabilities and impediments in growth and mental development.
Why do we allow the anti-abortion activists to claim the picture of the baby? Let's make our own pictures of babies to hold up at the events of our representative who insist that it's more important to save the government's dime when a woman wants an abortion than it is to save the life, and the future, of a baby that a mom desperately wants (and the government's dollar, or thousand dollars, later on in that baby's life, if it grows into a young person who is too disabled to work).
Complications of premature birth may include:
* Difficulty breathing
* Episodes of stopped breathing (apnea)
* Bleeding in the brain (intracranial hemorrhage)
* Fluid accumulation in the brain (hydrocephalus)
* Cerebral palsy and other neurological problems
* Vision problems
* Intestinal problems
* Developmental delays
* Learning disabilities
* Hearing problems
Let's show pictures of little babies in the ICU covered with tubes and the size of the palm of your hand. Babies that could have been born at the right time if their moms had received care for their diabetes, or had been able to have their weight monitored by a physician, or had been helped to quit smoking. Let's talk about the increased strain that this short-sighted policy places on future costs for those premature babies who survive with cerebral palsy or other complications that will prevent them from being as productive as they might have been had they been more timely born.