At what point is a baby considered to be a living human, and not a fetus? What is the "viability" age, meaning the point when an infant can survive outside the womb? And what are the philosophical and moral implications of the answers to these questions? In this excerpt from a 1972 episode of Man Alive, Canadian pediatric specialist Robert Usher ponders these issues, illustrating his points by showing a fragile premature two-pound baby who was born at 26 weeks gestation.
I wish to add that my brothers Michael and James were each just over 1.2 lbs each when they were born as identical twins at 23 weeks of gestation. Even though Mike is 18 months older than I am, we arrived home from hospital a few scant months apart as he faced many major health crises, crises that his twin did not survive and which kept Mike in hospital for the first year of his life.
I also point out that at the time, there were dire predictions about his long term capacities. My parents were told he would be 'retarded' intellectually and physically and would most certainly never be able to live independently or produce progeny of his own... all of which proved to be false. His two college diploma's and two daughters stand as stark and joyful evidence of error of the doctors prognostications.
Check it out here!
Reflections from the pastoral ministry of an Evangelical Catholic Priest.
25 November, 2010
An except from 1972 CBC series 'Man Alive' that deals with the question of when a 'fetus' becomes a 'person'
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Favorite Links
- American Papist Blog
- American Spectator
- Archbishop Tim Dolan's (NY) Blog
- Big Blue Wave
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC News Site)
- Catholic Dialogue Blog
- Catholic Education Resource Center
- Catholic Exchange
- Catholic Heritage Website (Ireland)
- Catholic Insight
- Catholic News Agency
- Catholic Online
- Catholic Sensibility
- Catholic, and Loving It
- CTV News Site
- Ethics and Public Policy Center
- First Things
- Fr. Raymond De Souza - National Post Columnist
- Fr. Raymond deSouza personal blog
- Freethroughthought blog (excellent site)
- Friar Rick's Webblog
- Get Religion.org
- Global TV News Site
- Holy Post - National Post Religious Blog
- Inside Catholic Blog
- LifeSiteNews
- New Advent
- Pave the Way Foundation
- Priests for Life Canada Website
- ProLife Blog
- Roman Catholic Diocese of Pembroke
- Rosary for the Bishops
- Salt & Light TV - Canadian Catholic Television Website
- Sandro Magister
- Sane Conservatism
- SoCon (social conservative)
- Sylvia's Website: Canadian Clergy Sex Abuse Cases
- The Catholic Register
- The Hermeneutic of Continuity
- The National Post: Canada's National Daily
- The New Jesuit Review
- The New York Times Website
- Vox Nova
- What Does Prayer Really Say - Priest bolg
- Whispers in the Loggia

Blog Archive
-
▼
2010
(997)
-
▼
November
(57)
- Scientists find way to reverse aging in mice - CTV...
- The Way of the Fathers » Eusebius Vindicated?
- From the Web Site: Voice of the Copts: http://vo...
- Freedom Through Truth: Addition By Subtraction
- Egyptian Coptic Christians are targets of Muslim e...
- The blog is intended to be a place where all voice...
- U.S. Orders Vast Review of Bioethics - NYTimes.com...
- An except from 1972 CBC series 'Man Alive' that de...
- Lively debate among Catholics interpreting pope’s ...
- Deflating the NYT Condom Scoop - George Weigel - N...
- I need prayers!
- Antimatter atoms captured for the very first time ...
- A request for your prayers
- When Reporting on the Catholic Church, Media Can't...
- Catholic Church struggles to deal with disciplined...
- AWESOME VIDEO!! The miracle of conception
- Co-Workers in the Truth
- Wonderful ad on Vancouver bus
- CBC News - Technology & Science - Dark matter hunt...
- How high will gold go? There are some scary vision...
- Pat Buchanan: Christianity being murdered in its c...
- Why the Roman Collar?
- MacIntyre on Money « The American Catholic
- Muslim group burns poppies on Remembrance Day - Wo...
- Muslim demonstration inside cathedral was not offe...
- A question for your consideration
- In culture of confusion, Church the only reliable ...
- Elections Do Matter Especially Among Bishops | Blo...
- Christians targeted in violence in Baghdad - Inter...
- Pope Benedict has not called cardinals to an emerg...
- Radical Amazement: Dancing with God & Einstein
- The Body Doesn’t Lie, But Modern Culture Does | Ar...
- Pope summons cardinals over abuse: Vatican
- “The New Evangelization”? « The American Catholic
- A real shot in the arm -- a holistic and holy appr...
- Pope urges Spain to shun secularism - CNN.com
- You Can’t Have it All – A Meditation on Simplicity...
- 34 warships to accompany president at Mumbai visit...
- A tournament of atheists, then and now - The Globe...
- God and Evolution: A New Proposal - ABC Religion &...
- Comet Hartley 2 : A giant peanut in the sky!
- How John Locke Influenced Catholic Social Teaching...
- Are we ready to die with dignity? - The Globe and ...
- NASA spacecraft to get rare up-close view of comet...
- N.S. couple gives away $11M in lottery winnings - ...
- Canadians Worry about Vulnerable People if Euthana...
- Mullahs happily walk through doors Canadian femini...
- Al-Qaeda of Iraq Calls Pope 'Hallucinating Tyrant ...
- Catholics to learn new wording for Mass – CNN Beli...
- The costs to victims of suing for compensation in ...
- Cannon condemns planned execution in Iran - CTV Ne...
- Inquiry called into abortion policy in N.B.
- Nouriel Roubini (who predicted the crash of the Am...
- Abortion advocates disabuse science as relevant to...
- Mohammed is UK’s most popular baby name
- A look at the coverage on the 'liberal gene' story...
- Obama Administration Threatens Independence of Cat...
-
▼
November
(57)

No comments:
Post a Comment