Speaking Personally, One more reason to vote no on Amendment 3

Considering the circumstances of the fetus

 

Treatment for ectopic pregnancies is not illegal in Missouri. Seeking treatment for a miscarriage is not illegal in Missouri. If you vote no on Amendment 3, you are not helping to solving that problem. 

 

Instead, you are voting to enshrine in the Missouri Constitution a “right” to end the life of a human fetus. Proponents of Amendment 3 will tell you that, if passed, the legislature will be able to restrict abortion after week 24, the age of “viability.” That’s debatable, but we will proceed from that point. What exactly does it mean to abort a pregnancy in the weeks leading up to viability?

 

Let’s look at what the pregnancy looks like from the child’s perspective, quoted directly from an article from the Cleveland Clinic on Fetal Development. This is not my religion. This is the science. 

“Week 19: The fetus is getting stronger, and most people begin to feel kicks and punches. The fetus also has its own unique set of fingerprints and can hiccup.

 

Week 20: The fetus’s nails grow towards the end of its fingers. The area of the brain responsible for its five senses begins to develop.

 

Week 21: Limb movements are coordinated and frequent. The fetus has bone marrow that helps it produce blood cells.

 

Week 22: The fetus’s grasp is getting stronger, and it can touch its ears and the umbilical cord. It can hear your heartbeat, your stomach rumble and your breathing.

 

Week 23: If born prematurely, the fetus may survive after the 23rd week with intensive care...”

 

In all the emotional pleas I have seen to consider the circumstances of the mother, I have yet to see a compelling counterpoint in which we consider the circumstances of the fetus – and still decide it’s okay to dismember a person who already has fingerprints.

 

Human beings in the womb do not have a voice to make a case for their right to go on living. 

 

Allow me. 

 

Imagine for a moment that you are the most comfortable and safe you could possibly be. You do not know fear, hunger, cold, or stress because you’re in the womb. Suddenly, an unknown sensation intrudes. It is a clamp around your tiny, delicate foot – and it’s pulling. 

 

I don’t have the stomach to type what happens next. If you vote yes on Amendment 3, I hope you can stomach it. A small human, too frail even to breathe on his own, who can hear his mother’s heartbeat, will experience the kind of treatment we used to reserve for traitors and enemies of state. 

 

It is torture. 

 

That is not an acceptable trade-off for so-called reproductive rights. 

 

In Missouri, our elected representatives made our state the first in the nation to outlaw abortion after Roe v. Wade was reversed. Those lawmakers are supposed to represent their constituents, to make and vote on laws that reflect the wishes of those they represent. However, thanks to the initiative petition process, that choice is now before the voters. 

 

Before you go to the polls on Tuesday, compare the plight of a desperate mother with a tiny, unborn child about to die for her rights. 

 

To me, there’s no comparison. 

 

Vote NO on Amendment 3.