A Baby in the Eye of the Beholder

The Corner on National Review Online Good catch. On NRO today, Kathryn Lopez noted the sad demise of yet another Hollywood “fairytale” — the Denise Richards/Charlie Sheen marriage — and then highlighted this quote from Reuters:

Richards, 34, who is six months pregnant, filed divorce papers in Los Angeles on Wednesday and asked for custody of the couple’s year-old daughter as well as the baby she is expecting with Sheen.

Since she wants the baby, it’s, well, a baby. Funny how that works.

Turns out that’s the way it works in federal studies too. The NIH and the EPA funded a study, just reported in the February issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention that found that urban air pollution can cause chromosomal damage in babies. Here’s the key:

Prenatal exposure was assessed by questionnaire, personal air monitoring during the third trimester, and PAH-DNA adducts in umbilical cord blood.

Basically, they kept track of how much air pollution the mother was exposed to, and then checked the baby’s blood once it was born for chromosomal abnormalities.

The bottom line is that in looking for ways to prevent cancer, they are starting with — and the feds are funding — research on “potential people.” Those are the very same “fetuses” that you can file for custody for, if you want them . . .or abort them if you do not.