This is an important find in the debate over abortion legality. In the majority opinion of Roe v. Wade, Chief Justice Blackmun said that if the viability of unborn life could be proven, then Roe's case collapses. Think on this: if the fetus is only a collection of lifeless tissue, then how come it can remember things? What other lifeless objects have memories? A link to the article in full is found below.

According to a recent study of "pregnant women in the Netherlands, researchers say they found evidence that fetuses have short-term memory of sounds by the 30th week of pregnancy, and develop a long-term memory of sound after that."

To be more detailed, "The study found that by 30 weeks of age, a fetus could 'remember' a sound for 10 minutes. By the 34th week a fetus may be able to 'remember' the sound for four weeks..."

"Beyond ensuring healthy nutrition, research of this type, along with the work of others regarding infant memory should help us understand the importance of a safe, relatively low stress environment during this very sensitive period of development," said Rahil Briggs, a pediatric psychologist at the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

In other words, there is a value to human life found in the womb. Between this, findings on fetal pain, and increased viability as documented by experts, maybe we should start thinking about collapsing Roe's case. It might be to our benefit as a society.

Source:

Cox, Lauren, "The Earliest Fetal Memory?", ABCNews, July 15th, AD 2009, http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/Story?id=8083181&page=1, accessed July 20th, AD 2009.