Due to advances in antenatal screening, screening that combines biomedical technology, genetic screening and ultrasound technology, a mother can now see the face of her unborn baby as early as 15 weeks into the pregnancy (Aksoy, 2001). This is done by 4-D ultrasound.
A couple at risk for a Down Syndrome infant can have privy to the information well in advance of the child's birth and, according to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, some infertility doctors in England are being forced to socially and genetically screen prospective couples before performing any fertilization treatments.
We have discovered that indeed each ovum is imprinted with DNA that is more individual than even our fingerprints and yet we still wonder when does life begin (Birth Mother Ministries, 2006). We know when an ovum becomes a zygote and when a zygote becomes a fetus. It is this discovery of DNA that should end the question as to when that fetus becomes a baby, and end it for good. It has been discovered that each ovum that emerges has its own genetic fingerprints (Birth Mother Ministries, 2006). This evidence of DNA should not only lead to question our views on abortion, but our infertility practices as well. I am not suggesting that we end the practice of assisting infertile couples all together. These are indeed an incredible procedures, however it is time to consider an alternative to the practice of discarded eggs and sperm.
When I was pregnant with my daughter I was attending an ethics class at a local university. One night the professor brought up a question regarding the beginning of the human life. She wanted to know when we believed a "fetus" becomes life (Fuller, 2008).
Surprisingly I had to think about what she had said. Although I had heard the heartbeat of my unborn child that very week, I was unsure on my position as to when she had become a baby. It was true that she was not yet able to think, or talk, but she certainly looked like a child on the monitor in the doctor's office (Fuller, 2008).
Upon further discussion the class began to debate the ethical issues of the "morning after pill" as well as stem cell research. I found myself quite overwhelmed and confused with the whole situation, until my heart remembered the scriptures found in Psalms chapter 139:13-18 (Fuller, 2008).
My Heavenly Father created my one-of-a-kind fingerprints while I was yet in my mother's flesh. I was respectfully and beautifully made by the same hands that formed the Grand Canyon, the Pacific Ocean, and hung the stars in place. My figure was born in His imagination before my molecules were even spoken into existence (Fuller, 2008).
He laid a plan for my life before the century I was born in even began. He has so many endearing thoughts towards me that they out number all of the grains of sand on all of the beaches of the earth. He watches me lovingly as I sleep, and He is always there anticipating the moment when I will awake to tell Him the deepest feelings of my soul (Fuller, 2008).
Upon further thought, I realized that if God truly "had a plan for my life" as Jeremiah 29:11 proclaims, and if indeed "he has numbered every hair on my head" as Matthew 10:30 reveals, then this life inside of me must have had a much more permanent beginning than even my classmates could understand (Fuller, 2008).
I realized that life does not begin when a child is born; it does not begin with the term of a pregnancy. The life of a child does not even begin at the moment of conception. The life of every child begins with the very moment at which they are conceived in the mind of God their maker (Fuller, 2008).
As my daughter has grown and developed her own unique personality and sense of style, it has become increasingly evident to me that if I had not become pregnant at the exact moment that I did; if the exact egg, containing the exact DNA that formed my little girl had not been the matter of which she was made, she would not be the very creature who stand before me today (Fuller, 2008).
Each and every molecule of our bodies was created by God to form who we are. Each and every egg and sperm was indeed created to become a human being. The selling, trading and destroying of these DNA are then most certainly an ethical disgrace (Fuller, 2008).
I not only believe that a fetus has the right to be considered a baby in every stage of pregnancy but I would take this a step further to say that I believe that every zygote, embryo and ovum has "unalienable rights, endowed by God;" the right to life.
References
Aksoy, Sahin. (2001). Antenatal Screening. BMC Medical Ethics.
www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3 2195.
Beveridge, E.A.J., Ananth, A., Scurlock, H.J. (2003). What Protection for the Unborn
Child of a Psychologically Vulnerable Adult. Journal of the Royal Society of
Medicine.
Birth Mother Ministries. (2006). www.isitababy.org.