Friday, January 8, 2010

More on "The Silent Scream"

People can't seem to understand that "The Silent Scream" is fake. A fake, lying piece of propaganda used to control people's emotions.

Unfortunately, the real authorities- doctors, medical professionals- don't even think The Silent Scream is worth their time. There's no direct mention of it that I can find in my google search. However, I have come across a couple things.

An article found on this site talks about a woman named Patricia Jaworski who wrote a documentary after researching the facts of brain development. She included four leading brain researchers in her documentary. Overall conclusion: The Silent Scream is false.
In fact, asserts neurologist and neuroscientist Dr. Dominick Purpura, former dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine, and current dean at Albert Einstein School of Medicine, before the 28th week of development the cortex lacks sufficient axons, dendrites and synapses to sustain the processes of thought, feeling and awareness the documentary deems necessary for "personhood."


Now, don't get caught up in the personhood deal. I'm not making a comment one way or the other (at least not in this post).

There is another article which mentions the neuroscientists and their opinions on fetal brain development. However, it seems to have a purpose other than just the silent scream so I will not quote it here.


Here again are some of the claims made in The Silent Scream disproven:
CLAIM: The 12-week fetus makes purposeful movements (e.g., agitated movement in an attempt to avoid suction cannula).

FACTS: At this stage of pregnancy, all fetal movement is reflexive in nature rather than purposeful, since the latter requires cognition, which is the ability to perceive and know. For cognition to occur, the cortex (gray matter covering the brain) must be present, as well as myelinization (covering sheath) of the spinal cord and attached nerves, which is not the case.
An example of the reflex withdrawal without pain occurs in an anencephalic (absent brain) newborn. Another known example of the reflex movement at this stage of human pregnancy is thumb sucking in utero.

What is termed "frantic activity" by the fetus is a reflex response of the fetus resulting from movement of the uterus and its contents induced by operator manipulation of the suction curette or the ultrasound transducer on the abdomen. This same type of response would likely occur with any external stimulus. A one-cell organism such as an amoeba will reflexively move or display a withdrawal reaction when touched.

In addition, experts in ultrasonography and film technology have concluded that the videotape of the abortion was deliberately slowed down and subsequently speeded up to create an impression of hyperactivity.

CLAIM: Ultrasonogram depicts the open mouth of the fetus.

FACTS: The mouth of the fetus cannot be identified in the ultrasound image with certainty. The statement that the screen identifies the open mouth of the fetus is a subjective and misleading interpretation by Dr. Nathanson. His conclusion is not supportable.

CLAIM: The fetus emits "the silent scream."

FACTS: A scream cannot occur without air in the lungs. Although primitive respiratory movements do occur in the later stages of gestation, crying or screaming cannot occur even then. In fact, a child born prematurely at 26–27 weeks' gestation (24–25 weeks' fetal age) cannot scream but occasionally emits weak cries.

CLAIM: A fetus is indistinguishable from any of the rest of us.

FACTS: A fetus of 12 weeks cannot in any way be compared to a fully formed functioning person. At this stage only rudiments of the organ systems are present. The fetus is unable to sustain life outside the woman's womb, it is incapable of conscious thought; it is incapable of essential breathing. It is instead an in utero fetus with the potential of becoming a child.

CLAIM: Fetal head at 12 weeks requires the use of "crushing instruments" for extraction.

FACTS: At 12 weeks' gestation (10 weeks' fetal age) and even 1–2 weeks beyond, instrumentation other than a suction cannula is not required when abortion is properly performed. Cannulas for aspiration abortion come in varying sizes, and the larger sizes are adequate for withdrawing the contents of the uterus.


In the end, I cannot believe how anyone can think The Silent Scream is anything but a lie.

42 comments:

  1. are u a doctor? then who cares.. get a life!

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  2. First, the personhood thing does not sound like scientific fact so much as one doctor or groups opinion. Secondly, a "silent scream" is not an audible scream, therefore it does not require lung functionality, boob. Still that is more of an emotion grabbing point, and even being pro-life I wouldn't consider that real evidence. Lastly, a reflexive response is still physical responses. Unconcious=/=unliving. Even if you don't consider it a fully functional human yet, it will still develop into one and is distinctly alive, as the amoeba they compared it to is, the primary difference being the amoeba will never be human. This is a stage of development of a human being, and therefore is human.

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  3. Please ignore that I used "lastly" in that argument. Old habits die hard. I know it's improper grammar, so don't be a tool.

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  4. Or was that thusly. Yeah it was thusly. It's one in the morning! Leave me alone!

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. I've been reading your blog for a while now and I think it's absolutely fantastic. The thing that pro lifers don't seem to understand is that the foetus is incapable of feeling pain at this stage of development! Pain IS a purely psychological reaction to injurious stimuli, and as has been said before, foetuses are incapable of experiencing this because they are not sufficiently developed until much later on in the pregnancy.

    Thanks for all the brilliant posts and for finally turning up a relevant result when I search for the debunking of the Silent Scream video!

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  7. I just watched The Silent Scream and I must say that it was incredibly powerful. Thanks to this blog post examining the arguments of The Silent Scream and Claudes' comment I feel that I have a much more realistic understanding of the issue.

    What's with the peanut gallery saying get-a-life to a discussion. Is pro-getting-a-life? Such a comment trivializes important issues.

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  8. Is the user pro-getting-a-life? (I guess if you put things in angle brackets Blogger leaves it out.)

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  9. I watched Silent Scream today, and I don't understand how anyone that isn't already an anti-choicer can be moved by it.

    The part where the guy started claiming that the fetus was moving away from the suction device because it knew it was about to be aborted struck me is absolutely ridiculous. People come rigged to detect abortion tools as fetuses, yet have to learn fire=bad, knives=sharp as children? Give me a break.

    Thanks for posting this.

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  10. I enjoy your post. Its really nice to know that things are questioned and not blindly followed.

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  11. I loved this post. Nice to see that there are still people like you at there. I can totally get behind what you are saying. Thank you!

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  12. Thanks for publishing the results of your laborious search so I don't have to repeat it.

    I hadn't heard of The Silent Scream but somebody mentioned it to me recently as evidence of conscious action at twelve weeks of development. Since at that stage there isn't enough of a nervous system to provide the wherewithal to have volition let alone act on it, I know a film documentary cannot possibly show this if it is honest. However it's still interesting to see the confous of contemporary neuroscientists from shortly after the film was made.

    The overwhelming majority of abortions take place at or before this level of development. That being so, It's important that women who may decide to seek an abortion are given accurate information. They should certainly not be exposed to a fictional horror film designed to mislead them and cause them to make what amounts to a forced decision.

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  13. Sorry, my typo "confous" should read "comments".

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  14. You know what, you were once that tiny little baby, with no rights and no voice to make a choice for yourself. And it was up to your mother whether you lived or not. Do you enjoy your life? Enjoy breathing, eating, talking, laughing, writing blogs about why its okay to kill something you once were? Because i baby's brain isn't fully developed its ok to kill him? Then why isn't it okay to kill someone with a mental disorder? There brain doesn't fully comprehend everything either!! I don't care if the baby can feel, or can't feel, can comprehend whats happening to them or not...They are still alive, and abortion is taking that life from then. Its murder.

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    1. Is it murder to kill a plant, then? It is alive. Is it murder to kill a cow for meat? It is alive. Is it murder to kill the bacteria on your hands with anti-biotic soap? That is also alive. A fetus prior to the development of brain activity isn't a person yet. A person with down syndrome or a mental disorder can still feel, think, and act; a fetus up until a certain point can do none of these things.

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  15. As stated by my chiropractor in Redmond, WA., the nervous system is the first system, to be completed by roughly the 7th week (when the womans period is missed) It's not totally perfected but it is fundamentally the first system to be completely functioning.
    How does one feel pain? NERVES and NERVE ENDINGs. The fetus feels pain as it is being pulled apart and sacrificed to the modern made idol of convenience.

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  16. No person-hood til 28 weeks? Hmmm what about the babies born at 21 weeks and lived? If you are a Christian than I am assuming you believe in people having a spirit/soul right? So when do you assume humans acquire it? Most Christians will say the moment of conception. Also if you read the bible, it talks in great detail of how God had every part in our making from day one and how precious we are to him, so how can you possibly justify killing a baby? Abortion goes against everything a Christian believes. This is not my opinion, as a Christian you are supposed to be "Christ-like"...read the bible and you will not find one spot where Jesus would support this.

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  17. If you think it is ok to kill someone who does not feel it...you better hope none of you get nerve damage!

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  18. Chiropractor? Really? We're supposed to take the word of a chiropractor (who may or may not exist) over the word of neurologists and neuroscientists? LOL. Sorry, but doctors aren't interchangeable like that. Are we going to hear from someone whose podiatrist has something to say about the development of fetal nervous systems?

    As for the Bible, it actually doesn't say very much about fetuses or abortion. The most you can find is something in the OT where it's specified that if a man causes a woman to miscarry then he is to pay a fine, but it doesn't become a real problem unless the man has harmed or killed the woman who was carrying the child. So, obviously even God thinks that the life of a fetus is not the same as the life and quality of life of the mother. Of course, people will say that's the OT and doesn't count (even though it totally does) but Jesus never amended it. And anything He didn't amend was to stay the same. But, it's not surprising that some Christians will be fast to judge others as not being true Christians, despite what Jesus said about sin and throwing stones and judging.

    And we do allow other people to decide whether someone dies if they have such damage or defect to the brain that they have no cognition whatsoever. The power is then given to the next of kin, and they decide when or if to "pull the plug" so to speak.

    As for being a little baby once ourselves...well yes, we were. And we would not have ever known the difference if we'd been aborted.

    And while we're talking about the morality of abortion, let's talk about what would happen if we made it illegal. This was tried once and it did NOT work. Women who were wealthy enough left and went where it was legal. Those that could not afford to do that, stayed and got back alley abortions which were dangerous and unsanitary or they performed dangerous and unsanitary home abortions and many MANY women died as a result. Many of those women who died were already mothers and wives. Pro-life isn't really pro-life, it's just the activism of punishing women for having had sex in the first place (otherwise we wouldn't hear babies-as-punishment so often), and none of them seem to care about the dead women and devastated loved ones (family and friends and CHILDREN already born) left behind those dead women who could have lived if they'd had access to safe and sanitary abortions.

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    1. And God said " I knew you, before you were in the womb. There's your answer.

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  19. Thank you, Traci.

    For the record, even if the nervous system itself is complete extremely early in pregnancy, it is irrelevant unless it is connected to the brain. That connection to the brain doesn't happen until well into the third trimester.

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  20. I certainly do not understand these people who are committed to killing babies.You call yourself christian but you are not truly redeemed you only have a form of religion. In the Bible it say God allows people to be consumed by there perversions and deviations because they are lovers of themselves and not God. I do not judge I merely discern where there is truth and there is none in these people who support killing babies and call themselves christian.

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  21. that old movie? who cares about the movie.

    the issue is really the sanctity of life.

    you say you are a pro choice christian? what an oxymoron!!
    have you actually read the Bible? do you actually try to transform your mind in the way that has been described there?

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  22. "babies-as-punishment"??? Where did this come from? That's a truly un-Christian belief. Throughout the Bible, children are seen as a blessing. It's quite the opposite -being barren- that is seen as a curse. And as for the Bible saying "little" about fetuses, you forgot Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you," as well as Elizabeth remarking how her unborn child rejoiced as she saw Mary, "As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy." There's also Psalm 139, "Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." The unborn are treated by the Bible as having life, and as having a purpose in the eyes of God. The destruction of your own unborn children, which are considered a blessing from God, is wholly unbiblical. You can be pro choice all you want. And you can fool yourself into thinking it's somehow Christian. But God is not fooled. And He will not be mocked.

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  23. "Destruction of the embryo in the mother's womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed upon this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being, and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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  24. Hmmm... to those who say Christians / the Bible don't condone abortion ... check out God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son in Genesis.
    There's Abraham, knife poised to strike (not knowing it was a test) and God doesn't say "jeez, Abraham - that was a test and you failed, you would-be murdering b*stard". No, no - God congratulates Abraham on his faith and actually then blesses him!
    So let's ask the question - it's ok to kill a child if "God" tells you to?
    And before anyone answers that God didn't really intend it so it doesn't count, let's go back to what the Bible says about intention in Matthew Ch 5 (v28): "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." This verse together with many others (including the 10th commandment re coveting) suggests sin is in the intention even before the act.
    Abraham fully intended to kill his child. It's written that his knife was raised and he was ready to go - it wasn't until the last moment that God intervened to stop it.
    It seems to me that God doesn't have an adverse view on the matter at all.

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    1. "It seems to me that God doesn't have an adverse view on the matter at all."

      Sorry, but that's a foolish statement, made only to justify your personal agenda. God asks Abraham if he would sacrifice his own son, whom God knew he loved, for His sake. It is a question of selfless sacrifice and obedience to God. It is this kind of selfless sacrifice that leads God to allow His own son, Jesus Christ to be killed. This is far different from the vast majority of abortions, where a life is terminated for self-serving reasons (e.g. personal/financial inconvenience), usually looking to avoid personal sacrifice. Implying God condones abortion because He has called others to sacrifice their children is like saying the President condones the murdering of a few military officers, because he has called them to serve in places where he knows a few will be killed as a result. You can certainly argue whether abortion is "right" in a secular country. But please don't for a moment think it is "right" in a Christian community.

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  25. Wow, using God telling Abraham to sacrifice his BORN child as reason to think God doesn't care about us killing our UNBORN children??? LOL! Abraham was not killing his son for a personal reason! Remember, "Thou shalt not kill"??? God gives us life, he can take it away. We ourselves do not have that luxury (except in self-defense)!! The only reason Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, whom he loved, was because he believed in a Higher cause, a Higher power that was telling him to do so. Whether you believe in that Higher cause is irrelevant -Abraham did, and that was his reason for doing it. So unless YOU think that God is telling you to sacrifice your unborn, whom you love and wouldn't hurt ortherwise, the comparison is pure bunk!

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  26. I understand it was Chuck Missler who said that Abraham believed that Isaac would be raised from the dead - he had after all been promised descendants numbering the grains of sand. My take is that Abraham's understanding had matured over the years and he understood God's ways being higher than ours (in layman's terms that means God can see the big picture we can't).

    Personally I do not believe that this scenerio is related to God okaying abortion. (Who is the one who comes to seek and destroy what God has created?) Rather I feel the person who put this out there was putting up a smoke screen.

    Finally - I agree with the content of the Silent Scream on the whole, though I do find it over dramatised. Is it really necessary to give each of the abortion tools their own little cameo performance before the main event of the scan? That said, the person presenting was an ex-abortion doctor himself, and so we would expect comes with some knowledge of the reality of what happens behind those closed doors. At any rate he woke up one day and saw the light and changed sides.

    I wonder whether a re-make of the Silent Scream done in 4D would clear up some of the anomalies in the original presented by Pro-choice Christian? I jest but only slightly, you can see enough from the Silent Scream in it's 1970 graininess to know that the fetus is distressed that it's environment is being invaded. (I would prefer to say it's sanctuary, it's safe place is being invaded - but am I now being over emotive?)

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  27. they are babies. I can't believe you people think are that callous. I guess these aborted fetus don't move you. These are not fake. You Pro-Choice folks are as stupid as the holocaust deniers

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  28. Pro-Choice Individuals are nothing but selfish, callous individuals care nothing then themselves and pre-marital sex.

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  29. Patrick, some women choose abortion because they know it's what's best for their families- they're extremely selfless.

    Also, there are many married prochoice people who have never had abortions; they have children and husbands and wives, but still support choice. Abortion doesn't only happen to unmarried people.

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  30. I wish medical experts, as well as video production experts would debunk The Silent Scream once and for all. Maybe the anti-choicers would stop using it and pretending it's factual.....then again, the anti-choice camp isn't one for telling the truth or using facts. Just faked/mislabeled pics and emotional manipulation.

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  31. I agree Patrick. Abortion is selfless?!? Lol Yes women in various situations have abortions but lets be honest here the vast majority of unplanned unwanted pregnancies resulting in abortion are by single women. Makes sense. Christian prochoicer please stop embarrassing yourself and drop the Christian act.

    So sick of the use of the word choice, so lame. Yes choice as you say includes lots of different things but who cares, the main issue here is that this "choice" you talk about includes abortion. Why can't you be straight up?

    What's not factual about the video Ali?!? At the beginning there's a healthy living baby seen on the ultrasound and by the end that baby has been ripped up and torn from it's mother's womb. End of. What else do we need to know? Wow great disappearing act by a baby only 12 weeks old eh?!

    We all started out in the womb. I bet you're thankful your mother didn't see you as a choice.

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  32. Pro choicer (I won't refer to you as Christian) Whenever you are proven wrong on one of your blog pages you just delete the whole thing like you did with your "Christian prochoice links" and "what prochoice means to me" pages. what's the point in setting up a blog if your not prepared to discuss the issues. As long as people are agreeing with you you're ok but as soon as anyone challenges you too much oops! the page disappears. Sad.

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    1. Sorry, but I don't delete any posts that debate or try to prove something.

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    2. I find it extremely self-righteous and ignorant that all these "Christians" would deny the blogger her own right to Christianity.I must be confused,because I always thought that believing in Jesus as Christ who died for our sins is what made one a Christian. The Bible makes perfectly clear that it is not by our acts that we are saved.but by belief in Christ. Even if the blogger was completely wrong in her opinion on abortion, you fellow believers should be.ashamed that you would deny her as a Christian because you have a different opinion, regardless of the topic. God made very clear that as Humans we do NOT HAVE THE PRIVELAGE OF JUDGEMENT.

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    3. And I swear if I get a bunch of comments on my spelling, I'll know it's because you had nothing of actual worth to say.

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  33. It is not fake for gosh sake. You seem to be the brain washer here.

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