By Judie Brown
Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Which comes first: truth or lies?
Such is the question we ask ourselves every time someone makes a comment that is based on false science, denial, and/or arrogance. A recent letter to the editor of the Baltimore Sun reminded me of this situation.
N.L. Bruggman wrote that a preborn baby is only a separate individual
when it is viable without its mothers support outside her body. This is generally considered to be around the seventh month of development. Until then, the fetus, as it should be called, is completely dependent on the human female to whom it is attached for everything it needs including food, oxygen and waste removal.
Our knowledge of human reproduction is very clear on these issues. A separate life for a baby depends on whether or not it can survive on its own, unattached to the mother.
The statements regarding the preborn child’s viability and his dependence on his mother make it clear that the writer does not realize that, just like that baby, the writer needs food and oxygen to survive, and waste removal is a sign of the writer’s health in the same way it is for the baby prior to birth. Contrary to the writer’s interpretation, the science is quite clear.
The preborn baby initially receives his nutrients from his mother’s uterine lining as he is attached to her with an umbilical cord. Science tells us: “All the necessary nutrition, oxygen, and life support from the mother’s blood goes through the placenta and to the baby through blood vessels in the umbilical cord.”
In the same way that a toddler relies on her parents to feed her, the baby before birth relies on his mom. In either case, the distinctly unique human being thrives when properly cared for. Even Bruggman was once a preborn baby who relied on his/her mom and was a baby who did so as well. Without the food, oxygen, and the diaper change, the newborn would die.
And to be clear, every baby has her own DNA. What this means is that, apart from her mother, the baby has a unique genetic code, which famed scientist Jerome Lejeune described as “the ribbon of life.” Further, he wrote: “At the beginning of our life, we have two meters of ribbon, so to speak, on which everything is coded. To help you understand the miniaturization of these tablets of the law of life, this meter-long molecule is coiled so tightly that it fits easily on the point of a needle. Life is written in a fantastically miniaturized language.”
This story of the separate life of the preborn child is not complicated, but for those who cherish their so-called right to abortion, it is a horror story. Such people refuse to admit that every single preborn baby is a distinct human being who deserves to be respected and protected by their parents, society, and the law.
When we say that abortion is murder, hackles go up. When we say that the baby is a person from the first moment his life begins as a single cell embryo, supporters of abortion go nuts. They prefer their deceptions to the scientific facts every time.
For folks like Bruggman, the conscious decision to hide behind the deceptive words “a separate life for a baby depends on whether or not it can survive on its own, unattached to the mother” betray the resistance to the simple truth that whether we are focused on the preborn or the born, every human being began separately and uniquely. If this were not so, none of us would exist.
Separating the LIE from the reality of LIFE is simple. I hope Bruggman tries it.