Scientific evidence for human life in the womb
On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court declared its decision regarding the case of Roe v. Wade, when the highest court in the land ruled that individual state laws banning abortion were unconstitutional. From that point onward, abortion-on-demand was legalized in all 50 states. Eleven years later, on Jan. 13, 1984, President Ronald Reagan…
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On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court declared its decision regarding the case of Roe v. Wade, when the highest court in the land ruled that individual state laws banning abortion were unconstitutional. From that point onward, abortion-on-demand was legalized in all 50 states.
Eleven years later, on Jan. 13, 1984, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation designating Jan. 22 as the first National Sanctity of Human Life Day. (Ever since, tens of thousands of churches continue to recognize the closest Sunday to Jan. 22 each year as a day to commemorate the high value of human life from the womb to the tomb.)
It is staggering to think that, since 1973, 61 million humans and Americans have lost their life in the womb due to being aborted or terminated by their parent.
Consoling news is that the number of abortions is decreasing. As of 2015–2016, the number of abortions was approximately 926,000. This is down from a peak of 1.6 million per year in 1990. From 1980 to 1992, the average was over 1.5 million per year.
In fact, Fox News reported last September that abortions are at an all-time low: "Abortion rates varied by state and region, with the largest declines occurring in Arkansas, West Virginia, Alabama, and Virginia. Overall, the report found that abortions are decreasing in all parts of the country, whether in Republican-controlled states seeking to restrict abortion access or in Democratic-run states protecting abortion rights."
"Most of the national decline – a drop of 55 percent – came from California and New York, two states that are considered among the biggest champions of abortion access. … 57 percent of the nationwide decline occurred in the 18 states, plus the District of Columbia, that did not enact any new restrictions," Fox added.
That's the good news.
However, the bad news is that, as pro-life leader and founder of Live Action Lila Rose explained, "While we are pleased that the abortion rate is decreasing across the country, there is still a long way to go to ensuring that every expectant mother and preborn child is treated with dignity."
She added, "According to Planned Parenthood's research arm, Guttmacher Institute, abortion still kills 2,362 babies every day in America. Abortion isn't health care, it's an act of violence against our most vulnerable children, and the pro-life movement will not rest until the country's laws and culture reflect this fact."
Another positive fact is that there is also a growing movement across our country to restore the high value of all human life, including precious babies in the womb.
In 2016, CNSNews.com reported: "The Virginia House of Delegates voted 57-36 Wednesday to adopt a resolution calling January 22nd, the day that the Supreme Court ruled that abortion was a constitutional right, a 'Day of Tears in Virginia' and saying 'that the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia are encouraged to lower their flags to half-staff to mourn the innocents who have lost their lives to abortion.'"
I was talking recently to an anthropology professor about the conception of life, and he shared with me some very fascinating information from Dr. Dianne Irving, a biochemist and biologist who is a professor at Georgetown University.
She wrote this about the scientific evidence for human life in the womb:
To begin with, scientifically something very radical occurs between the processes of gametogenesis and fertilization – the change from a simple part of one human being (i.e., a sperm) and a simple part of another human being (i.e., an oocyte – usually referred to as an "ovum" or "egg"), which simply possess "human life," to a new, genetically unique, newly existing, individual, whole living human being (a single-cell embryonic human zygote).
That is, upon fertilization, parts of human beings have actually been transformed into something very different from what they were before; they have been changed into a single, whole human being. During the process of fertilization, the sperm and the oocyte cease to exist as such, and a new human being is produced.
To understand this, it should be remembered that each kind of living organism has a specific number and quality of chromosomes that are characteristic for each member of a species. (The number can vary only slightly if the organism is to survive.)
For example, the characteristic number of chromosomes for a member of the human species is forty-six (plus or minus, e.g., in human beings with Down or Turner syndromes). Every somatic (or, body) cell in a human being has this characteristic number of chromosomes. Even the early germ cells contain forty-six chromosomes; it is only their mature forms – the sex gametes, or sperms and oocytes – which will later contain only twenty-three chromosomes each.
Sperms and oocytes are derived from primitive germ cells in the developing fetus by means of the process known as "gametogenesis." Because each germ cell normally has 46 chromosomes, the process of "fertilization" cannot take place until the total number of chromosomes in each germ cell is cut in half. This is necessary so that after their fusion at fertilization the characteristic number of chromosomes in a single individual member of the human species (46) can be maintained.
To accurately see why a sperm or an oocyte are considered as only possessing human life, and not as living human beings themselves, one needs to look at the basic scientific facts involved in the processes of gametogenesis and of fertilization. It may help to keep in mind that the products of gametogenesis and fertilization are very different. The products of gametogenesis are mature sex gametes with only 23 instead of 46 chromosomes. The product of fertilization is a living human being with 46 chromosomes. Gametogenesis refers to the maturation of germ cells, resulting in gametes. Fertilization refers to the initiation of a new human being.
(For more proof about human life in the womb, I recommend starting with the article, "Scientific Evidence for the Personhood of Unborn Children," by Wayne Grudem, Ph.D., University of Cambridge.)
Thomas Jefferson explained in the founding of our country that preserving human value and life was government's primary role: "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government."
It is the reason that Jefferson created and penned in his own hand the words in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government. …"
That enduring human value is echoed in the Hebrew Bible in Psalm 139:13-14: "For You, God, created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
Or as the old classic 1800s spiritual put it:
Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in His sight,
Jesus loves the little children of the world.
(For those who are thinking of having an abortion or if you want to help someone who is thinking about it, please read Dr. James Dobson's article, "How to Help a Friend Who Wants an Abortion." Further personal help and counseling can also be found HERE.)
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