Novena for the Legal Protection of Human Life: September 21, 2018
Pray
Maya change in the U.S. Supreme Court move our nation closer to the day when every human being is protected in law and welcomed in life.
Our Father..., Hail Mary..., Glory Be...
Fast
Offer a sacrifice for the intention.
(Ideas for fasting.)
Learn
Abortion stops a
beating heart.
Abortion advocates usually refer to the human being growing in her/his mother's womb in dehumanizing terms like "product of conception" and suggest that most abortions are done before fetal organs are functioning.
Actually, the vast majority are done after the fetal heart has begun beating. A baby's heart begins to beat at about 21 or 22 days after fertilization.1 That's at about 3 weeks of development. The vast majority of abortions in the United States are done well after this point.2
1 Keith L. Moore and T.V.N. Persaud, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th edition: Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Co., 2003, at 330.
2 60% are done after the 6th week of "gestational age" counting from the last menstrual period, or the 4th week of development. Jatlaoui TC, Shah J, Mandel MG, et al. Abortion Surveillance—United States, 2014. MMWR Surveill Summ 2017; 66(No. SS-24):1-48.