From: gjh@galen.med.Virginia.EDU (Galen J. Hekhuis)
Subject: Re: Fetal Heartbeat (Re: Supreme Court)
Organization: University of Virginia Health Sciences Center
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 13:14:29 GMT

In article <1992Jul24.034931.8710@wuecl.wustl.edu> dgp@atlas.wustl.edu 
(Don Porter) writes:

}Obviously, I can not speak for Gregory Clausen, but when I use
}"abortion" here and when I see "abortion" used here, there is
}no doubt in my mind that what is being discussed is induced 
}abortion.  If this usage is good enough for the CDC, it's
}good enough for me.

A fair number of cases concerning abortion come up before
the supreme court with respect to constitutionality.  I'm
fairly certain the words and phrases used by the people who 
wrote the constitution were fairly clear to them too.  Yet 
we continually have disagreements about intent.  The usage
here or by the CDC or by Planned Parenthood or some right to
life group may be good enough for you, but when it becomes a legal
issue often judges, lawyers, and laymen alike will check 
appropriate dictionaries, the same sources I checked.  Indeed,
dictionaries often designate several definitions of words and
sometimes even number them in accordance with their frequency
of usage.  

}[ At this point Galen goes on at some length pretending he
}doesn't understand that "abortion" commonly means "induced
}abortion" 

Pretend?  "Abortion" commonly means "induced abortion"?
If I was pretending that the term "abortion" might mean 
something else than "induced abortion" why would I bother
to look it up?  Why would I assert that in each and every
place I looked "induced abortion," if mentioned, was
specifically a subset of "abortion"?

}(Or does he really think all the picketers are
}protesting natural wastage?).  

I'm not sure exactly what they are protesting, and it seems neither
are they.  That is precisely my point.

}He then goes on to accuse
}Clausen of playing semantic games to produce a catchy slogan. ]

Well, I'll admit that I mentioned slogans, but I did not accuse
Mr. Clausen of playing semantic games.  I think it is a bit 
more sinister than that.

}I'm sorry, Galen.  I thought you were simply trying to correct 
}an error of Clausen's.  

Indeed I was.  With a bit of vitrol and name-calling thrown in, I
might add.

}I didn't know you were setting yourself
}up to go on a semantic safari against the "life begins at
}conception" crowd.  

I wasn't.  I don't have much to say about the assertion that life
begins at conception.  My own thoughts on the matter are that life
began long before any conception. 
 
}If I'd known that was your game, I wouldn't
}have played.

It isn't a game to me nor is it a game to many others.  The notion
of "play" is entirely in your head.

}But since it seems to be so important to you to make the point
}that many, many conceptions don't lead to babies, and many
}don't even get to have beating hearts, I'll help you out.
}Here's something posted last year which confirms exactly that:

}From: tas@pegasus.com (Len Howard)
}Message-ID: <1991Aug16.014726.20384@pegasus.com>

}Just to get some hard data into this discussion, at the Feb 19, 1991 
}postgraduate course on Perinatal Medicine, Daniel R. Mishell Jr., MD
}Professor and Chairman of the Department of OB/Gyn at USC presented
}a repeat of one of his favorite topics, Recurrent Pregnancy Loss, Why
}does it happen?
}   The first slide is always a Life Table for Intrauterine Mortality
}in the Human (per 100 Ova exposed to risk of Fertilization)

}The bottom two lines are:
}     Live births (including birth defects)         31%
}     Natural Wastage                               69%

}16% are not fertilized, 15% fail to cleave, and 27% fail to implant for
}31% failure in the first week.  By 14 weeks, 32.4% are continuing as
}normal pregnancies (and 67.5% have passed off in some fashion or another)

Uh, what would you call "Natural Wastage" then?  I'd find it listed
under natural abortion, a subset of the more general "abortion," 
as defined in every reference I've checked.  In other words, abortion 
does not stop a beating heart, in fact, in the majority of cases there 
isn't even a heart to stop.   


--
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     Galen Hekhuis  UVa Health Sci Ctr (804)982-1646 gjh@virginia.edu
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Newsgroups: talk.abortion