Inviable & Dangerous Pregnancy Termination

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That picture has been used by so many anti-abortion campaigns, in so much literature, that I think the urban myth of the ruptured tubal pregnancy has just been accepted. Those who do the research know that this image is of a fetus beyond 8 weeks, so, it could not have been from a ruptured tubal.

It is a fascinating picture, however, I am not a fan of using photographs of persons, even very tiny persons, in this manner.
 
It is a fascinating picture, however, I am not a fan of using photographs of persons, even very tiny persons, in this manner.
I’m sorry, I’m not clear, what do you mean by “in this manner”?

As far as the picture is concerned, the story I heard — and again, this was 40 years ago, I struggle to recall the exact phrasing — was that this was an ectopic pregnancy removed from a sectioned tube (salpingectomy). Sometimes things take on a life of their own.

Many “famous photos” get urban legends attached to them. The one that immediately comes to mind is that of the Sudeten German woman wearing a shawl and weeping as she raises her arm towards a Nazi parade. (I will not reproduce the picture here, the reader can Google it, if desired.) The propaganda was that this woman was being forced to make the Nazi salute, “with a gun to her head”, figuratively speaking. Fact was, the woman was in a large group of people cheering their German “liberators” — this part got cropped out — and if they were indeed overjoyed that they were finally being reunited to the German “motherland”, then these soldiers were “liberators” indeed. Evidently she was so overcome by emotion that she started sobbing. Or maybe she was of a non-German minority and was in terror that bad things were going to happen to her and her family. We’ll never know the whole story. (Note: I am not condoning anything the Nazis did, least of all anything where innocent people were harmed, dispossessed, or otherwise had their rights compromised.)
 
Thanks! I will say though that I was so early that I couldn’t see the baby - which I expected. There was a gestational sac of the correct size and a yolk sac. But at my stage the baby is far too small to be seen. And the ultrasound was to confirm that there was a progressing pregnancy and not an ectopic as I have a history of recurrent pregnancy loss and need to be put on blood thinners. I go back in 2.5 weeks when we should be able to see the baby and heartbeat and I can start getting some peace of mind.
 
I’m sorry, I’m not clear, what do you mean by “in this manner”?
I believe it is exploitation to use photos of these people as “propoganda” even if it is in opposition to abortion. IF the parents consented for the photo to be used this way, that is one thing. I find using these dead human fetuses as props is contrary to the dignity of the human person, same as when Fr Pavone used the body of a fetus as a political prop in a political ad during the last election, simply improper.
 
I’m sorry, I’m not clear, what do you mean by “in this manner”?
I always enjoy your posts and I respect your contributions here, but I must respectfully disagree this time. There are things that are so horrible, that if pictures showing these atrocities will help the world to know about them, to have the reaction people should have, and to work towards making sure these atrocities can’t ever happen again, then so be it — exploitation it may be, but it is towards a far greater good.

I have in mind, for instance, the picture of the little girl burned by napalm in Vietnam, the girl crouching over the slain student at Kent State, the pictures of the corpses stacked like cordwood in the Nazi concentration camps, and the photos of Emmett Till that appeared in Jet magazine (as well as Mr Till having an open-casket funeral). In the latter, Mr Till’s mother gave permission for this, but the point should be clear — sometimes a picture is, indeed, “worth a thousand words”.
 
And many people hold that same view, using all of the same comparisons. I simply cannot bring myself to see any of those instances as respecting the dignity of the persons.
 
And many people hold that same view, using all of the same comparisons. I simply cannot bring myself to see any of those instances as respecting the dignity of the persons.
Understood, we all come at things from different angles and have different perspectives.

I am just thankful that such things as photography and videos exist, to document horrors like these, and that these images can now spread throughout the world at lightning speed. Two hundred years ago, nobody ever heard of such a thing. One hundred years ago, these things were in their infancy. Fifty years ago, we had to rely upon photos in newspapers and magazines, and news and documentary films on a handful of TV channels. Today’s world is not all bad.
 
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