Does a fetus have the protection of Human Rights?

My partner's son and wife just gave birth to a beautiful little boy. And I mean little! He is 3 pounds. And two months too early. It seems the mommy's womb was not a big enough room for their little fellow. He had to move. The parents knew early on that this was would be a difficult pregnancy. I worried that the mother just would not be able to carry long enough. So many things could go wrong. The human spirit is remarkable. Not only our daughter-in-law but the wee one intent on holding on. He was feisty.

At six months-that's a mere 24 weeks in utero-the little fellow was showing distress. The doctors feared birth, so with the aid of modern medicine the baby received life-saving medicine through the mommy so that his lungs would expand in preparation for an imminent birth where he would be on his own in the breathing department using his lungs two months too soon. I am well acquainted with babies. My three children blessed me with nine grandchildren, the most recent born last spring. So I was startled by my reaction to this little one. I kept looking at him in his new abode-in the incubator in the NICU- so tiny and so perfect, and heard myself say that out loud. Marvelling at his tiny perfection. The wonder of him having five fingers on each hand-and five toes on each foot-as if they should not have been there. And I realized I was responding in the same way my mother had when she held the third of her great grandchildren. She was almost 90. I remember as if it were yesterday; she held this little baby girl-she met one child from each of my children-all girls- and marvelled at the size of this baby and that she had all her fingers and toes. I remember thinking, of course-had my mother forgotten? No. Neither of us had forgotten. We had both been overwhelmed by the miracle of birth. I wish more women could see pre-mature children-perfectly formed human beings- able to feel pain and pleasure-and show it. I think their rather cavalier attitude toward abortion would change. The idea that a fetus is nothing more than a glob of cells must be deconstructed. I think it is time to end the dehumanizing of babies in utero.

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I just saw a "fetus," only now called a baby, because he had to move from a womb to a room. The baby I looked at could have been aborted because there are abortions at 7 months. And even at 6 months this little one would have looked almost the same-just a tiny bit tinier. And this baby whether in-utero or in the incubator feels pain and pleasure. He would have felt being aborted, his body dismembered for removal or to harvest his organs. Pretending otherwise demeans us as a compassionate society. We must change the narrative on abortion as we develop better ways of saving babies. I suggest that it is disingenuous to talk about women's rights as if they were separate from fetal rights or the rights of the father or the grandparents or the greater society. And we must include in this discussion the responsibilities and obligations of the male and female who came together and produced this child. Keep in mind, no child asks to be born, but once conceived that child, no matter how tiny, has rights-the most important one is the right not to be hurt, be inflicted with pain, or abused. Let's start the conversation with human rights- no one human having greater rights than another. Then we can better talk about the future of a baby in-utero.