What is natural?

Last week was gay Pride Week in Toronto. Thousands of visitors poured into the city to celebrate love and acceptance—of their children, their chosen life partners, and the people around them who insist on equal rights and tolerance for those who are born different from the usual pattern or develop differently. Human sexuality is complex and I’m not surprised to find variations in what “turns people on.” Outside narrow limits such as height, weight, coloration, or bustiness, some other people condemn the way it develops and would reject those people unless they deny their inner reality.

'WHO CARES if my MOMMIES get married?'

Meanwhile, some people have a developing fetus whose characteristics are incompatible with life or with growing up. There are groups (and web sites) dedicated to convincing us that we should accept everything that God sends us and appreciate the deformed fetus, letting it enjoy its “brief but wonderful life”—with or without a brain, a functioning heart, cancer, functional bones, or the need for multiple painful surgeries. They encourage women to disregard the emotional strain and physical danger of giving birth to such a baby, alive or dead or dying.

Conjoined twins

I wonder: why the acceptance for drastic and life-limiting birth defects and the rejection of relatively minor and common variations in forms of love

What causes third-trimester abortions?

After the murder of abortion provider George Tiller for doing third-trimester abortions, there were a lot of hysterical accusations about the number of abortions he did and the reasons for them. I looked for solid research on the reasons. I read the personal experiences of people who had to face third-trimester abortions. They wanted to have a baby, but genetic or developmental errors intervened. Given the frequency of these defects, Dr. Tiller probably did about a 100 – 200 a year, but that’s just a rough estimate on my part. It’s certain he didn’t do 60,000, which would keep him working feverishly every day for two lifetimes.

The reasons they gave were basically the same as those I found in a research paper from 1999, on second-trimester and third-trimester abortions at one hospital over several years. Only “singletons” were studied, so none of the fetuses were conjoined twins, which is another way that a fetus can be non-viable. About 2/3 were done in the second trimester and 1/3 in the third trimester. The reasons for a third-trimester abortion were:

* In 40%, an earlier test indicated that a defect existed but not how serious it was. Doctors delayed and re-tested to see if the defect was serious enough to be life-threatening. Some genetic conditions can be mild or severe, so to prevent unnecessary abortions the doctors waited.
* In 37%, an earlier test failed to find the serious defects that showed up later.
* In 18%, a diagnosis for this kind of defect can’t be made until the third trimester. This often seems to include anencephaly, a fatal birth defect.
* And in the remaining 5%, doctors or parents delayed the decision to abort. I correlated this with what I’ve read about doctors ordering yet another another test to make sure, waiting for a referral, parents not able to believe the news, having hysterics and going home, and praying for a miracle.

Reference:
Dommergues M, Benachi A, Benifla JL, des Noëttes R, Dumez Y., British Journal of Obstetrical Gynaecology, 1999 Apr;106(4):297-303. The reasons for termination of pregnancy in the third trimester. PubMed ID: 10426234.

If third-trimester abortions are outlawed, some parents may choose earlier abortions when it’s not certain they are needed.

Some critics mentioned club foot as a reason for abortion. Club foot means that at least one foot is turned in. It is not a reason for abortion, but it is a warning to screen very carefully for other health problems. The same goes for other deformities of the digits or limbs. Club foot is associated with spina bifida and anencephaly and other birth defects, some of them fatal.

One defect that can be missed at the second-trimester scan is anencephaly, in which the brain fails to develop. It is uniformly fatal, often before or during birth.

Anencephaly, view of back of head

Origins of the swine flu pandemic

Research blogging from Not Exactly Rocket science:

In the time since the words “swine flu” first dominated the headlines, a group of scientists from three continents have been working to understand the origins of the new virus and to chart its evolutionary course. Today, they have published their timely results just as the World Health Organisation finally moved to phase six in its six-tier system, confirming what most of us already suspected – the world is facing the first global flu pandemic of the 21^st century.The team, led by Gavin Smith at the University of Hong Kong, compared over 800 viral genomes representing a broad spectrum of influenza A diversity. The viral menagerie included two samples of the current pandemic strain (the virus formerly known as swine flu and now referred to as swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV)). Also in the mix were 15 newly sequenced swine strains from Hong Kong, 100 older swine strains, 411 from birds and 285 from humans.

The team used these genomes to build a viral family tree that shows the relationships between the strains and dates their origins. They found that S-OIV was borne of several viruses that circulate in pigs, with contributions from avian and human strains. The virus made the leap to humans several months before we twigged to its presence. It was spreading right under our noses, undetected because of our lack of surveillance of flu viruses in pigs.

Read more.

Chiropractors try to erase web clues

At least one chiropractic association has told its members to remove their wilder unproven claims from their web sites. This follows the decision of science writer Simon Singh to appeal against a conviction of libelling chiropractors by saying that their claims of being able to cure colic and other infant troubles were “bogus.” Unfortunately for Mr. Singh, he defined “bogus” in his article as meaning invalid; but the judge invoked mind-reading powers to conclude that Mr. Singh meant “deliberately fraudulent.” That’s a bogus decision, Judge.

Gravity: only a theory

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Worse or worst

The blinkered, single-issue, “pro-life” commenters with their “Tiller deserved it” hate speech need to look at “A Heartbreaking Choice.” No one is pro-abortion. Late abortions are done for dire medical reasons. Unfortunately, sometimes there’s just the choice between worse and worst.

Protesters chase British Nazi from press conference

It seems that a member of the British Nazi Party has been elected to the European Parliament, essentially because few people bothered to vote. However, protesters threw eggs at the winner until he abandoned an outdoor press conference. I guess the celebrated British reserve doesn’t extend to being represented by fascists. I hope that people turn out for the next election.

Evolutionary and phylogenetic trees

Casey Luskin seems to be stepping into Michael Behe’s clown shoes to perpetrate another round of “scientific analysis” based on inaccuracies. The Non-discovery blog analyzes why Luskin is wrong: Molecular evolution, retroviral evolution, and standard phylogeny give similar trees: “Why we know the tree is real.”

Hat tip to ERV: “Bort grows ERV and CytB trees!“