Comments on: The Picture Speaks for Itself

By: SmilingAtheist

SmilingAtheist — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 05:29:55 +0000

The billboards are hysterical! It reminded me of George Carlin immediately. Too funny! As for the abortion issue, it’s quite simple, women naturally abort fertilized fetuses, shall we get over the abortion issue now?

By: absent sway

absent sway — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:40:42 +0000

I’m lovin’ it!

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 18:22:38 +0000

Is this real? Or is it photoshoped?

By: Polly

Polly — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:38:28 +0000

“How come when it’s a fetus, it’s an abortion, but when it’s an egg, it’s an omelet?”

The eggs we use in omelets aren’t fertilized. So, the comparison, and hence the joke, breaks down somewhat. It’s still funny on a rhetorical level if little things like fertilization aren’t important to you.

By: Epistaxis

Epistaxis — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:52:34 +0000

I think a gynecologist would be mighty surprised if the ultrasound on an 18th-day embryo showed a six-month-old in clothes, like that picture. Here is what it should look like. Notice the lack of a beating heart.

By: Lynx

Lynx — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:22:32 +0000

Hearts beat because cardiac muscle cells have the ability to rhythmically self-contract, without outside interference, as long as they have nutrients. I’ve had the heart of a very dead frog in my hand and it was beating. The brain only controls heartbeat rhythm, not the actual beating, so a bunch of cardiac cells rhythmically contracting is not indicative of any more life than any other non-beating cell, even if it seems emotionally relevant.

By: sam

sam — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:58:09 +0000

Aren’t you only labeled a baby once you’re born?

By: writerdd

writerdd — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:35:33 +0000

who cares about a heart. It’s the central nervous system and the brain that makes something sentient.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 20:31:12 +0000

Wikipedia alleges 4-5 weeks is when the heart starts to beat. or Week 4 = 3 weeks after fertiliztion. Huh. I thought it was a lot later than that.

By: justin jm

justin jm — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:52:36 +0000

This reminds me of what the late George Carlin said: “How come when it’s a fetus, it’s an abortion, but when it’s an egg, it’s an omelet?”

But if I recall correctly, the fetus’ heartbeat doesn’t start till much later than 18 days. Can anybody here verify that?