Abortion Series -Part 1: When and How Does Life Begin?

When does life start? Is a baby not a baby until it breathes outside the womb? Is it only a baby once you find out the gender or is it when you detect a heartbeat? Does life begin at conception, the first missed period or somewhere in between? Is it after a certain gestational week?
So many people have so many differing opinions on when life actually begins. So let’s begin with the “how” it begins and then go from there. There really isn’t too much debate on how life begins. Here are the basics: the sperm joins with the ovum and forms what is known as the zygote. The zygote attaches to the uterine wall and develops rapidly from there. Now if the sperm doesn’t find an egg (ovum), there is not fertilization taking place – so no baby. That is the simple “how” life begins.
Now onto the more controversial “when”:
I have given birth to 3 children. Every time I saw my Dr. he would tell me how many weeks pregnant I was. When I first discovered I was pregnant with each child, I was between 4 and 6 weeks. Now it makes sense to me that the reason we are told “you are 4 weeks pregnant” or “10 weeks along”, that means there has been life growing inside for the past 4 weeks or 10 weeks or whatever number week it may be. By the time a baby has reached the 6 week mark, he or she has a beating heart, flowing blood, arms with fingers, legs, developing brain, lungs, cranial nerves, eyes and ears. My first pregnancy ended at this stage – 5-6 weeks. I grieved for my lost baby and we named him or her Riley. It amazes me just how developed that little life was when it ended. And it can only end if it had a beginning, right? I believe its life began the moment the sperm joined the egg. 46 Chromosomes came together in that instant to create a new and unique individual.
Now I realize we live in a very …..well, odd place in our society because on one hand everyone goes around saying “just believe” or “just have faith”…..not sure WHAT you are supposed to just believe or have faith in….but then on the other hand we are so visually oriented. We have to see to believe. I think this is why so many women who would have had an abortion, but first see an ultrasound of their baby change their mind and don’t go through with it.
Today’s culture and the generations of today are being taught that abortion is a “woman’s right”. I am here to say it is no such thing. If you are a parent, think for just a second that your precious child could have been someone else’s child. What if that person wasn’t ready for a family? What if they were “too young” or “too poor” or “too busy” or “too whatever….” And that person chose instead of giving birth to your precious child to end his or her life. What gives them that right? The argument is that the baby is part of the mother’s body and therefore she can do with her body what she wants. That is one of the most ridiculous and false arguments I have heard. A – The baby is NOT part of her body – inside her body, yes, but as a temporary resident not as a permanent resident. B – A woman’s claim that it is her “right” to do as she pleases may be valid when she is the only individual affected, but the baby isn’t her, isn’t her body, and therefore isn’t part of her “rights”. And the fact that there is a new set of chromosomes within her rapidly developing ought to be obvious to us all that that’s not just a part of her body.
As I wrap up this first part, please think hard about life and our responsibility to be educated to the truth. No one is going to brainwash me into thinking that a baby is not a baby until it is born or until you hear a heartbeat or until you know the gender. A baby is a baby. A baby is a person and needs our protection. In the words of Dr. Seuss, “a person is a person no matter how small”.
POSTSCRIPT: 10/27/13 I would like to clarify, because someone is bound to notice, that when I say how many weeks pregnant I do realize that most dr's refer to weeks pregnant from the last date of a woman's menstrual cycle and not from actual fertilization. I do not think a woman is pregnant until the egg is fertilized, so I mean actual age of the baby from the moment of fertilization forward. Hope that is clear enough :)