In today’s America, political controversy rages over when—or whether—legal protections should begin for children in the womb. The arguments are intense, and tend to focus on milestone events in fetal development, like the onset of the child’s brainwaves, heartbeat, or capacity to feel pain. At the same time, however, developments in fetology and prenatal medicine are pressing strongly for recognition of the baby as a patient in his or her own right ever earlier in pregnancy.
