You're right. And there's no perfect objective standard that can be written in a matter like this. Heck, "15 weeks" is a guess because we don't know how quickly sperm met egg (can be six days per Planned Parenthood's site). We end up deferring to judgement of those we've granted with greater authority and responsibility (doctors, legislators, judges).
As my concealed carry instructor harps time and again: Use reasonable judgement if you have to defend yourself, but don't trust your life to a reasonable jury either.
Thank you. I wish there was an ability to trust reasonableness.
Legislators and Judges have no business getting in this. Unless they have training they are clueless. These are the people who are causing this idiocy. Their 'greater authority' has put patients and medical folk in legal, moral and physical jeopardy. Unfortunately many of those who are using this as an issue are ignorant but it plays well and they get traction.
Your comment re 15 weeks and how quickly sperm and egg met highlights a difficult point in many of the laws. Both of those are arbitrary measures and assume if the egg is fertilized a viable pregnancy will result. Assumptions are bad and using any of these is flawed.
Some interesting facts-
-Most common calculation regarding weeks is by using last menstrual period and counting forward assuming a 28 d cycle. Ovulation occurs 14 days
before menses. If the woman has a longer or shorter cycle calculation of weeks can be way off. Saying a woman can't do anything past 6 wks could mean some women weren't even pregnant yet.
-Up to 25% of women ovulate 2 times a month. Again an issue if you are assuming ovulation occurred at a specific time in cycle
-Eggs on avg have a window of approx 48 hrs but can last a bit longer (usually not) they can be fertilized. Sperm can last approx 5-7 days before fertilization. This is why Vatican Roulette fails often. For those who believe life begins at conception there is no way to calculate that unless you have IVF.
-The fertilized egg can take as long as 7-8 days after fertilization occurs before getting into the uterus and having a blood supply.
-up to 25% of fertilized eggs will result in spontaneous miscarriage before 6 weeks no matter how much the woman is doing to make things successful.
-When I was in Grad school (1988) Life was considered to be present with quickening (Catholic definition, most other mainstream belief systems), Some Jewish sects and other belief systems believed life was with first breath. There was no mainstream belief that ascribed to the life begins at conception. This is a fairly new construct.
- While there is no absolute, most people in this country believe that 'life' is somewhere around 8-12 weeks of gestation. The majority of people do not believe in life at conception.
-There is no medical definition I am aware of regarding when life begins. In medicine we use 'viability', when a fetus would be able to survive outside the womb. While this has changed to be earlier than it was, it comes with multiple potential difficulties. Extremely premature infants have many, many issues that often preclude them having a 'normal' outcome and may result in quality of life being poor and needing lifetime medical support
::climbs off soap box::