Because I was mostly away from the Internet yesterday, I missed most of the talk about Ohio's ridiculous "heartbeat" bill, a new law that goes directly after Roe v. Wade and would prohibit abortions after heartbeats can be detected in fetuses. That's as soon as 18 days after conception. In other words, way before a lot of women even would know they're pregnant. An ultrasound of a fetus' heartbeat will be shown at the hearing, though that does not constitute, as the lawmakers sponsoring this effort would have you believe, "testimony." But more to the point, it goes right at the, er, heartstrings of potential abortion foes. There is something visceral and emotional about hearing another heart, wherever it comes from. That's what abortion foes have to rely on, because the science isn't with them on abortion. Of course, fetuses aren't viable after their hearts begin beating. But this stems from the same, admittedly very hard, problems in determining life and death medically, versus dealing with life and death emotionally. Medical death defined, just like life, doesn't match up with our emotional sense of whether a person is or isn't -- brain death can leave someone with a heartbeat, albeit supported, and it doesn't make them any less dead. Defining life has become medicalized, to an extent, but what many miss is that this is a good thing. Right now, few remember the days before Karen Ann Quinlan's family had a right to let her die, just as few remember the days when women died trying to get abortions through any means necessary. They would do well to remember. These issues are hard to deal with, but are much easier than they once were.
