One of the most influential films about the abortion debate has been "The Silent Scream." It portrays, in graphic terms, the reactions of the fetus during an abortion, and it invites the viewer to identify with it. The fetus in question was about twelve weeks old, and a sample of the movies soundtrack gives the message: "Now this little person at twelve weeks is a fully formed absolutely identifiable human being. He has had brain waves for at least six weeks..."
 

Let's look at this film in the light of what we have learned about the development of the fetus, and in particular, the development of the brain. At twelve week, the fetus has virtually no connections in its cerebral cortex. It is simply incapable of feeling emotions like fear. It is also incapable of moving in response to any wilful thought. This statement has nothing to do with ideology; it follows from what we know about which parts of the brain control volition and when those parts of the brain start to function. Thus the idea that the fetus can recognize the danger facing it from the abortionist's instrument and can try to escape is ridiculous on its face. It represents what philosophers call the *pathetic fallacy*. it is a result of our tendency to attribute emotions and motives to things that don't possess humanness. Walt Disney made a sizable fortune exploiting this tendency in his movies, but that's no reason to allow it to affect the outcome of the abortion debate.
 

The basic argument in the film, stripped of the emotional content of the soundtrack is the fact that the fetus can moves makes it special A similar argument (used often by medieval scholars) has often been applied to quickening, the time when the woman is aware of the motion of the fetus in her uterus. We know, however, that there is no necessary connection between motion and mental awareness or conscious thought or volition. Here are some examples of phenomena that back up this statement:

 
• When a doctor wants to test your reflexes, he or she hits your knee with a little hammer to see if your leg moves. When the hammer hits the tendon in the knee, it stretches the muscle and causes a nerve impulse to travel from the nerve-muscle junction to the spinal cord. There the impulse is routed directly to the nerve that triggers the contraction of muscles in your leg, causing it to move. In this case, the movement takes place without any brain involvement at all( although in adult some signals do go to the brain so that we are aware of the motion). The response is automatic, a fact that is recognized in our use of the term *knee jerk* to describe an unthinking reaction in political thought.
• Some animals are perfectly capable of motion even when decapitated. The phrase "running about like a chicken with its head cut off" arises from this observation. The existence of a brain simply isn't a necessary precondition of movement.
• Plants can move in response to stimuli, even though they don't have nerves. The Venus flytrap is one example: the mimosa, whose leaves fold up when they are touched, is another; the sunflower following the sun is a third. Thus

the fact that the fetus moves tells us nothing about the state of development of its brain. In particular, it tells us nothing about whether the synapses that give the brain its final configuration have formed. A far as humanness is
concerned, the ability to move is simply irrelevant.

I could go on but that's enough. You'll possibly consider this a biased site but it does an excellent job of pointing out more of the discrepancies. Planned Parenthood

And of course Nathanson himself finally admitted that it was a doctored presentation to present a feeling in a particular way.

I apologize - I can't find my link to that information and the link I thought led to it produces a 404 exception.
What I can tell you about this, is that it was a news story - I believe NBC - and Nathanson was talking about his book "The Hand Of God"

He described how ultrasonography affected him and how he wanted to see what an abortion was like on ultrasound and persuaded a colleague to tape an abortion (actually several) in 1984. He took what he considered the best of the tapes and began presenting it at Abortion Opposition rallies and meetings. Over a period of months his narration became so good that he was approached to make it into a film in 1985. This normally ten minute procedure was thus turned into a 20-27 minute presentation (depending on the copy).

Now if you read what I said in the previous post you will understand that I was not saying Nathanson did anything fraudulent but he agreed the film was edited to produce an emotional impact as a work of theater would be, but not produced like a medical teaching film. That editing would include the music and his own narration as well as the provision of a fetal heart sound. If you read his description in his book you can verify what I have just said.

If you actually want to get the raw unedited version, then watch the ultrasound sequence without sound. That's about the way it originally was before Nathanson added the dramatics and I can assure you - especially if you haven't seen it before - it will be a totally different experience.

Of course all of this is in addition to the information in the earlier part of this post. He charges money these days to go and talk to the gullible at anti abortion meetings and spread his story of how he turned Roman Catholic from Jewish.

If you should meet him at one of these events be very careful of the answers you get from this paragon of virtue though. If he was a liar as a NARL leader do you believe this leopard actually changed his spots?

Eileen