Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
False
News & media
Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
Debate current medical affairs
The Newspaper headline screams out "In Arizona pregnancy begins two weeks before conception". The state governor has enacted legislation asserting that for every woman the date of conception wi
0
Cat:OffDutyForum:NewsMedia
Cat:OffDutyForum:NewsMediaDiscussion:0294d731-c5e2-4d95-a781-ffaba2369294
Forums » Off duty » News & media » Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
|
Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 22/10/2012 2:37 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 963
First: 15/7/2011 Last: 24/5/2013 |
The Newspaper headline screams out "In Arizona pregnancy begins two weeks before conception". The state governor has enacted legislation asserting that for every woman the date of conception will always be the first day of her last period. By saying that pregnancy starts two weeks before conception, Arizona's new law narrows the window in which a woman can get an abortion. Current law allows abortions up until the point of viability, when a foetus could reasonably survive on its own outside the womb. That’s considered by many medical experts (in the USA) and abortion clinics to be from 22 to 24 weeks.The Tuscon Citizen newspaper states: “During the hearings on the bill, doctors said many women don’t discover their fetus has a severe or life-threatening problem until an ultrasound at about the 20th week. The doctors and several women who had faced this issue testified that this law would arbitrarily cut off the right for these women to have an abortion. Planned Parenthood of Arizona lobbyist Michelle Steinberg stated that the law is our nation’s most extreme piece of anti-abortion legislation. I am interested to know what doc2doc members think about this legislation. Does it make any material difference to the mother seeking an abortion? Will it lead to reductions in the number of abortions? I am not quite sure what I think about this new law. |
|
|
Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 22/10/2012 3:42 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 2060
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 24/5/2013 |
Recently, we have had the UK Minister for Health flying his personal kite for a 12 week cut off, and other UK politicians wanting to nibble away at the abortion legislation. Of course those not in favour really want to ban abortion, but settle for banning it by a thousand cuts instead. Truely, Americans said that "The price of Liberty is eternal vigilance" and that "All that is required for Evil to prosper is for good women and men to do nothing"! The forces of Reaction are always with us, and we cannot let them take away what has been bought with so much toil. We had another thread here recently on the Ministers mean-minded view, whihc conatined many other views and references to the need for mothers whose abnormal foetuses are not discovered until later than 12 weeeks, to have abortion as an option. The twenty-odd week limit is one based on the possibility for such a foetus to survive after delivery, which changes from none to some about then. John John |
|
|
Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 22/10/2012 3:57 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 1271
First: 13/4/2010 Last: 23/5/2013 |
Seems to me that it's always prominent men who want to comment on this issue and impose their views on women which, frankly, I find weird. As for Mr Hunt - he's a buffoon who thinks the NHS should pay for sugar pills and a wee chat - sorry, I mean homoeopathy. |
|
|
Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 22/10/2012 7:43 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 3045
First: 27/3/2012 Last: 20/5/2013 |
Clearly it does not seem logical to assume that the date of conception will be the first day of her last period. It is merely an example of political interference in the healthcare system. |
|
|
Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 23/10/2012 2:42 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 6
First: 23/10/2012 Last: 21/2/2013 |
Not sure that prominent men are imposing their views on women...think the argument stems on the life of the unborn child. This is an extremely difficult ethical dilemma for many, surely men should be able to voice their say as well as women especially as fathers may well be affected by the decisions that women make. |
|
|
Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 23/10/2012 3:32 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 1
First: 23/10/2012 Last: 23/10/2012 |
Am i missing something? As long as I have been calculating pregnancies i started from LMP and that can be 2 weeks from conception. What's the news here? As it is not possible to know the conception (in my cynical view I never trust women about these matters) LMP is logical and practical. |
|
|
Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 23/10/2012 3:32 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 3
First: 23/10/2012 Last: 17/1/2013 |
In Response to Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!: Sorry to spoil a good story Google search revealed following The legislation was House Bill 2036, which bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The rumor was that the law would ban abortions after 18 weeks of pregnancy. Here's an explanation of how that was calculated by the rumor mill at the Huffington Post: The 18th week bill includes a new definition for when pregnancy begins. A sentence in the bill defines gestational age as "calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period of the pregnant woman," which would move the beginning of a pregnancy up two weeks prior to conception. The bill's passage would give Arizona the earliest cutoff for late-term abortions in the country; most states use 20 weeks as a definition. That same thought led people to declare that Arizona just made a law stating pregnancy began two weeks before conception. |
|
|
Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 23/10/2012 4:07 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 1
First: 23/10/2012 Last: 23/10/2012 |
In our case the date of the LMP was around 2 YEARS before the birth of our second child. My wife has pcos, so very irregular periods. Also she had a coil fitted for contraception following our first child, which we had removed & we were delighted when shortly after we conceived. But no menstruation. Not sure how this case would be addressed in this legislation |
|
|
Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 23/10/2012 5:10 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 5
First: 25/2/2010 Last: 23/10/2012 |
In Response to Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!: Am i missing something? As long as I have been calculating pregnancies i started from LMP and that can be 2 weeks from conception. What's the news here? As it is not possible to know the conception (in my cynical view I never trust women about these matters) LMP is logical and practical. Posted by DrCC Agreed. I wrote a quick post on different ways to date pregnancy (http://genegeek.ca/how-do-you-date-a-pregnancy/) and use the kerfuffle in Arizona as an example of the confusion.
In general, gestational age is used for dating (based on LMP) so the Arizona law isn't different than other states. |
|
|
Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
posted at 23/10/2012 11:58 PM BST
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 2
First: 16/12/2011 Last: 23/10/2012 |
In Response to Re: Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!: Seems to me that it's always prominent men who want to comment on this issue and impose their views on women which, frankly, I find weird. As for Mr Hunt - he's a buffoon who thinks the NHS should pay for sugar pills and a wee chat - sorry, I mean homoeopathy. Posted by skyesteve Slightly off the topic but still a valid reply... I'm a first year medical student and I just had a pharmacology lecture that had a GMC mandated slide saying that belief in homeopathy and being a doctor are mutually exclusive!!!! and the NHS has the gall to run a homeopthic hospital in central london!!! with massive pfi costs crippling hospitals in the region GRRRRRRR!!! we need a new party rant over Oli |
Forums » Off duty » News & media » Pregnancy begins two weeks before conception!
