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In reply to the discussion: I opened the bathroom door and found my roommate's girlfriend in a pool of blood [View all]Hekate
(90,660 posts)They lie.
The restrictions placed in Roe were based largely on common societal attitudes of the time, oddly enough, in which there were no restrictions during the first trimester, then increasing restrictions as the second trimester advanced, and only for profound medical reasons in the third trimester.
Throughout history, the 4th month was considered the time of "quickening," when the fetus first makes itself felt in little flutterings. What happened before then was generally a private occurance.
Medical reasons that were part of Roe had to do with life and health of the mother, the viability of the fetus, rape, incest, and so on.
Never has there ever been a legal-abortion policy or law that allowed women to walk into a clinic and demand an abortion of a healthy fetus a week before her due date. Never.
Third trimester abortions are vanishingly rare, but have been demonized by anti-choice fanatics as "partial birth abortion" and infanticide. They are for when the mother will die if she is not delivered immediately; they are for when the fetus is already dead, or is so profoundly deformed that it will die in days. Anencephaly is one such condition. There literally is no brain: most die immediately, some live a whole week. They aren't "retarded" or "developmentally delayed" -- they have NO brain and soon forget to breathe.