General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Santorum: Our Abortion Was Different [View all]Arkansas Granny
(31,505 posts)not an abortion. A baby born alive at 20 weeks gestation is considered a live birth, not a fetus.
A pregnancy that ends between 20 weeks and 37 weeks is considered preterm, and all preterm babies are at significant risk for health problems.
http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/preterm_indepth.html
Definition: Any baby at any gestational age who is born and has a heartbeat at one minute of age and/or tries to take a breath; this is a live birth.
http://www.misschildren.org/pro/articles/guidelines.html
I don't like Rick Santorum or his political views, but to claim that the premature birth of their child was an abortion is not truthful. Of course it is hypocritical for Mrs. Santorum to state that she would have induced labor to save her own life, but that still does not make the loss of this child an abortion.