House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently appeared on Face the Nation, where she claimed that “science hasn’t changed” while ruminating on her political views regarding abortion. Unfortunately, many viewers may take her words at face value, without realizing that science has not only changed, but dramatically so since Roe v. Wade was decided. Today, of course, such remarkable technology exists that not only are ultrasounds widely and routinely available (something that was not the case in 1973), but 4D ultrasounds are commonplace — letting parents see who a child in the womb most resembles, months before the child enters the light of day. The science-based, fact-focused Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) issued a press release shortly after Pelosi’s remarks.
CLI’s Dr. Tara Sander Lee, a senior fellow and director of life sciences at Charlotte Lozier Institute, said in the release:
“It’s unfortunate that after three years of telling America to ‘follow the science,’ Speaker Pelosi is now ignoring the science because it’s inconvenient for her extreme political position of legalizing abortion until the moment of birth.
Has Speaker Pelosi been asleep for the past 50 years? Major scientific advancements have revolutionized ultrasound technology, fetal diagnosis, and the science of fetal pain. Doctors are now treating babies in utero before birth and at the same gestational age that Speaker Pelosi proclaims a right to kill.
There have also been miraculous advancements in our ability to care for extremely premature babies, and all of this has occurred since Roe.”
READ: Pelosi and Feinstein refuse to say if 15-week preborn baby is a human being
Today, science proves now what was not always clear in the past: that abortion destroys a living person. CLI’s response noted, “The black and white dots of an ultrasound before Roe could barely identify the head of an unborn child in the womb, much less identify the heartbeat at six weeks, show the child sucking his thumb at 15 weeks, or display her eyes, nose, lips, and behaviors with absolute clarity.” CLI linked to a history on ultrasound advancements to illustrate their point.
CLI;s images of ultrasounds before and after Roe are a reminder of why the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words” holds true:
Courtesy of the Charlotte Lozier Institute
Disturbingly, those pictures of modern ultrasounds also remind us of what we don’t want to remember: fetal pain can also be seen. CLI reminded readers that an outdated 2010 study by Dr. Stuart Derbyshire is oft-cited in the abortion industry’s response, and he is considered a “leading voice against the likelihood of fetal pain,” according to the New York Times.
However, as CLI pointed out, “Dr. Derbyshire in 2020 published an updated peer-reviewed paper in the British Medical Journal’s Journal of Medical Ethics concluding that the cortex is not necessary for pain perception and that ‘the evidence, and a balanced reading of that evidence, points toward an immediate and unreflective pain experience mediated by the developing function of the nervous system from as early as 12 weeks.’”
The pictures of the ultrasounds of an in-utero baby before and during anesthetic injection are enough to make us wince with pain, as well.
Courtesy of the Charlotte Lozier Institute
CLI also pointed to this 4D ultrasound video of a third trimester baby reacting to an injection of anesthetic prior to surgery in utero, as well as studies from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
CLI concluded its news release by reminding readers of a powerful reality:
Medical advances since 1973 make it possible to save extremely premature babies at earlier and earlier ages, making the Supreme Court precedent of ‘viability’ both outdated and fluid. With the skills of caring physicians and the availability of new science, viability has moved to ever-younger ages, from 24 to 28 weeks in 1973, to 21 or 22 weeks today. Just last November, Guinness World Records named Curtis, who was born more than four months premature (just halfway through a normal pregnancy at 21 weeks and 1 day), as the world’s most premature infant to live to a first birthday.
“The only things that haven’t changed since Roe are Speaker Pelosi and the Democrat party’s advocacy for taxpayer funded abortion on demand until birth,” Dr. Sander Lee said. “Follow the science? Absolutely, because science reveals the humanity of the unborn child like never before.”
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