Dear Editor,

I was flabbergasted to hear a proclamation from a unified body of church officials on March 28, on a news report, proposing scientific reasons to legitimise abortions at or below 12 weeks’ gestational age.

They asserted that at 12 weeks the “baby” is not a life and, although it is formed and has all the organs, none of the organs are functioning. I would like to state emphatically that these assertions are factually incorrect, or in the modern vernacular “fake news”.

Fact #1: Functioning placenta at 12 weeks gestation

To start, the placenta, which is one of the most magnificent and diverse functioning organ systems, functions to facilitate the exchange of nutrients, waste products and hormones between mother and foetus. The science states that by eight to 10 weeks’ gestational age there is engagement of the luteal-placental shift and the placenta by 12 weeks is performing its core function of micro-transport between foetus and mother.

Fact #2: Functioning cardiovascular system at 12 weeks’ gestation

The first embryonic cardiac impulse occurs at 35 days from the first day of the last menstrual period, in other words, at six weeks’ gestational age. By 12 weeks the heart, with its four chambers along the great vessels, is actively pumping blood through the vascular tree to all the tissues.

​Facts # 3, 4, 5: Functioning nervous, muscular and skeletal systems at 12 weeks

Before 12 weeks’ gestational age (and as early as eight weeks) the foetus is capable of moving all its limbs and trunk. For this to occur, there must be an intact and functioning​ central and peripheral nervous system as well as muscular and skeletal systems.

Fact #6: Functioning urogenital system at 12 weeks

Although primordial in anatomical features, the primitive kidneys are engaged in function and are contributing to the pool of amniotic fluids that bathes the foetus before 12 weeks’ gestational age.

As an obstetrician who has done thousands of ultrasounds for pregnant clients, the foetus in whom I have diagnosed “not alive”​ (or with no life) are those which fail to show cardiac activity or movements in a specific time frame.

The foetuses at 12 weeks’ gestational age and below, that I have examined sonographically and have diagnosed as being alive, exhibit some of the same characteristics that are common to ​ life​ in the extra-uterine (outside) world.

The above scientific facts debunk the assertions made by the clerics, and if the paradigm shift is for Jamaica to abort ​section 72 of the Offences Against the Person Act, then let it be done based on facts, not fake news.

I believe the clerics should run in their lane. They should use all available biblical​ evidence to support their stance on abortion, and leave the scientific proclamations to the scientists.

Dr Trevor Potter

brian_t6300@yahoo.com