![]() It is medically impossible to know whether or not the body contains a fertilized egg. In other words, there is a period of anywhere from 6-11 days post-fertilization where a female body contains a fertilized egg but is not yet “pregnant.” Her body doesn’t even know it contains a fertilized egg. If it does, after a few more days, enough human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is produced by the presence of the pregnancy to register on the most sensitive pregnancy tests. If it makes it to the uterus, it may implant into the uterine wall, and it may not. The egg then becomes a blastocyst that makes its way toward the uterus over the course of 5-7 days. If the sperm is introduced around the time that the woman ovulates, it’s possible that a sperm would meet her egg and fertilize said egg. First, sperm is introduced into the female reproductive system. Therefore, “abortion from the moment of fertilization” is an asinine phrase.įertilization is not the beginning of a pregnancy it predates it. Pregnancy, by medical definition, is what happens when a fertilized egg implants into the uterine lining (or, as in the case of an ectopic pregnancy, somewhere outside of the uterus). Abortion, by its medical definition, is anything that ends a pregnancy. I’m simply a person who paid attention during middle-school science, and, later, needed to know this stuff in order to keep track of my own body. It feels tedious that I have to explain how idiotic this is. In Oklahoma, lawmakers recently passed HB4327, a law banning all “abortions” from the moment of “fertilization.” I’m putting all of these words in quotes because the way that Oklahoma lawmakers use these words is not in line with the way that doctors use these words.Īrkansas Guv Shies Away From Extreme Abortion Ban He Signed There’s no other explanation for the smattering of insane laws attempting to redefine what is actually, medically true about human reproduction, from laws that suggest it’s possible to remove an ectopic pregnancy and implant it, somehow, back into the uterus (not physically possible, also stupid) to laws that attempt to define “pregnancy” as something that starts at the moment an egg and sperm meet. But it wasn’t until this year that they passed laws that made it clear that not only do they have no idea how it works, they believe that it is a magical process that they can shape using their imaginations. I always had an inkling that conservative lawmakers have no idea how female anatomy works. Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |