images like these depicting fetuses were common in 16th and 17th Century surgical & midwifery texts.

[IcyPeas]

Is this what republican men think a fetus looks like? It's 16th and 17th century thinking.

For #FoldOutFriday we have the 'the child turning itself in birth' (1685). Similar images depicting fetal presentation were common in 17thc surgical & midwifery texts. With the fetus often resembling a toddler!

From:

RCSEd Library & Archive@RCSEdArchiveNews & collection highlights from the Library & Archive at Surgeons' Hall/Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. For Museum follow @surgeonshall

Link to tweet

[TreasonousBastard]

1. Kid's got a lot of room in there. Surprised he isn't jumping rope...

with the umbilical cord.

[Hekate]

2. Except for the "toddler" look & lack of umbilicus, sac, and afterbirth, it's quite an accurate ...

… representation of possible presentations at the time contractions begin. Looks like a textbook, and I think some of the details were omitted for clarity regarding the lessons being taught.

#1 is exactly where you want the full-term baby to be: head down and everything else trailing after.

Absolutely every other position has the potential for being catastrophic, in that a modern woman would be prepped pretty fast for a C-section, after ultrasound confirmation of the bad position. Some midwives or obstetricians are able to turn the late-term fetus to the correct presentation, but…

As to your original point — modern day anti-choice adherents are very devoted to the Gerber Baby look. They want it understood that every abortion past the zygote stage looks like a miniature Gerber Baby, and they also want their audience to imagine that a baby that has died before birth (or that will die shortly after being born) looks similarly adorable, which they don't.