Oops. They thought it was dead.

Recently, a fetus in Italy that had been removed from its host was discovered not to be a fetus at all, but a baby. It was a baby because it was alive. A priest was praying over the recently discarded tissue when, to his shock, he noticed it was alive. He quickly notified hospital staff who tended to the infant they had recently, and unsuccessfully, tried to kill. Not only did the infant survive the abortion attempt, it stayed alive for another 20 hours. Despite the efforts of hospital staff, and the resiliency of the newborn baby, the abortion was ultimately successful. The infant died.

The fetus had been aborted at 22 weeks. Italian law allows abortion up until 20 weeks. Fetal tissue can be removed past 22 weeks if it is deemed necessary to the health of its host. Italian authorities are looking into the matter. It is being investigated as possible manslaughter. If it is shown that the aborted fetus was not in fact a fetus, but a child, charges could be filed. According to authorities, if nothing else, "we are dealing with a very grave case of abandonment."

What is of note is how the fetus came to be a child. Nothing had changed about the fetus. It was physiologically the same as it was when it was in its mother's womb. Essentially, the only thing that had changed was its location. It is almost as if the fetus was magically transformed into a child once it had been shifted 18 inches or so from inside the mother to outside. Development and viability often have less to do with the distinction than where the fetal matter happens to be at the moment.

This is not the only case in which fetal tissue survives the attempt to remove it. There are other cases. It is an interesting phenomenon. When abortions go wrong, sometimes the result is a baby. Modifying abortion laws would easily take care of the matter. It would simply be a matter of extending the legal definition of what a fetus is to include recently removed fetal tissue, whether it is functioning or not. No need to be squeamish. It is not as if we are killing babies.

If authorities are unsuccessful in their attempts to bring charges against the hospital, they should at least charge the physician who attempted the abortion with malpractice. What kind of doctor cannot kill a baby?