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From: barry@ames-lm.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Are abortions becoming obsolete?
Message-ID: <359@ames-lm.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 24-Jun-84 17:48:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: ames-lm.359
Posted: Sun Jun 24 17:48:43 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 27-Jun-84 03:21:45 EDT
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
Lines: 44

[No...get back...AAA{           (burp)]

     Perhaps because the abortion debate tends to climb the
ladder of abstraction from "legal abortion = good / legal
abortion != good", to "fetus = human / fetus != human", a
concrete development which may render the latter question
academic, has gone unnoticed, here.

     I refer to a recent news story about a couple who were
killed in a plane crash; it seems there is an embryo (well,
fertilized ovum) of the couple alive and well in some lab.
I guess the couple were attempting to get around some kind of
infertility problem, with eventual reimplantation of the ovum
planned.
     Whatever the reason, there is currently a controversy over
what should be done with the fertilized egg (eggs? Not sure).
What interests me about the story is the fact that we are now
able to preserve such fertilized ova ex uterus for extended
periods, and the implications of this in re abortion. It sounds
to me as though we are very close to being able to preserve
"aborted" fetuses indefinitely, with the possibility of eventually
reimplanting them in the womb of some other woman who desires a
child, but is unable to conceive, or prefers to "adopt".
     I understand that we may not be able to do this quite yet.
I do not recall hearing how long they can keep the ova in stasis,
and I am aware that putting a fetus in stasis when it's a few
weeks to a few months along is more difficult than maintaining a
single fertilized egg. But I get the impression that we must be
getting close to where fetuses destined for destruction could be
preserved instead of destroyed.
     Would this be a good idea? I have some opinions, but I'm more
interested in yours. If nothing else, the possibility of such an
alternative would decouple the "either the mother's welfare
or the fetus's" argument. We'd still not know if the fetus was
"human", but, having hedged our bets, we'd no longer *need*
to know; the question would be academic.
     
     Comments?

"I am only an egg."                             Kenn Barry
                                                NASA-Ames Research Center
                                                Moffett Field, CA
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