A fetus is a real thing | READER COMMENTARY

In a recent letter to the editor, a reader of The Baltimore Sun referred to “unborn babies” as “not real things” (“Since when does religion justify legal rulings?” Feb. 26). He stated that “unborn children” are not real things except in the imaginations of religious zealots and “no more real” than “soft rocks,” “lead balloons” and “winged horses.”

Yet science supports the fact that by the 12th week of pregnancy, a fetus has his or her own torso to which their tiny arms and legs are attached with fingers and toes. Also, two ears, eyes and a nose. And a heartbeat that can be detected from a heart that is pumping its own blood with a DNA different from the mother.

Science indicates that an unborn child is a real thing. Would the writer look at a pregnant woman with a protruding midsection and tell her “that is not a real thing?”

— David C. Hill, Forest Hill

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