In 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court made abortion on demand legal in all fifty states, science was lagging behind what pro-life individuals already knew to be true: life begins at conception and should be protected at all stages.
Since that infamous ruling, science has made great strides to validate our position. In 2016, the scientific evidence for life seems hardly in dispute…except for those who are ideologically blinded by the pro-abortion agenda.
So what is this evidence?
- A child in the womb has individual and unique Chromosomes. At the moment of conception, the zygote—the fertilized ovum—retains full personhood and does so throughout the gestation period: forty-six chromosomes, a carrier of similar DNA to his or her parents, and the same genetic makeup inside the womb that he or she will have outside the womb. (Keith L. Moore and T.V.N. Persaud, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th ed., Philadelphia: Saunders, 2003, pp. 2,16) In other words, who you are today is no different than who you were at the moment of conception. A few things have changed – your size, level of development, environment, and degree of dependency (think of the acronym SLED to help you remember these differentiations), but other than those non-essentials, you are the same person today as you were then.
- Seven Characteristics of Life: Also from the moment of conception, pre-born babies possess the seven characteristics that define life: responsiveness to the environment, growth and change, the ability to reproduce, a regulated metabolism and oxygen flow, maintaining homeostasis (the ability to regulate internal bodily functions in response to external changes), composed of cells, and the capacity to pass traits onto offspring—in this case, human offspring. But the pre-born baby also has one additional characteristic, which may not be strictly scientific but is true nonetheless: he or she is a bearer of God’s image—a human being created with intrinsic value. This truth was the inspiration for our organization’s new brand name: “Human Coalition.” Unlike any other aspect of God’s creation, we were created in his image or Imago Dei.
You may have once heard the commonly cited quote: If a single living cell was found on a distant planet, scientists would exclaim that we have found life elsewhere in the universe. So why then is a single living cell in the womb of a pregnant woman not considered life?
According to the father of modern genetics, it undoubtedly is! He writes, “After fertilization has taken place, a new human being has come into being. It is no longer a matter of taste or opinion . . . it is plain experimental evidence.” (C. F., PhD. (n.d.). When Does Life Begin? Retrieved from http://www.prolifeoncampus.com/)
And of the Department of Genetics at Mayo Clinic said, “By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”
Dr. Lejeune and an increasing growing number of modern day scientists agree that the science is clear: human babies are conceived in the wombs of human mothers, and those pre-born human beings are alive at the moment of conception.
At Human Coalition, we are grateful that science increasingly reinforces the fact that life begins at conception, and that abortion supporters can no longer push deceptive talking points like “the fetus is just a clump of cells” with any credibility.
To further advance the scientific point of proof as part of our mission, we are raising funds toward purchasing 4D ultrasound machines that can be placed in all five of our women’s care clinics. Statistics show that women who receive an ultrasound are significantly more likely to choose life. Imagine how we could increase that statistic if our clinics provided a high-resolution 4D ultrasound for each abortion-determined woman.
Your financial and prayerful support allows Human Coalition to leverage science to help make abortion unthinkable and unavailable by providing the data science, high tech marketing, and advanced ultrasound machines to rescue babies in the womb.
Greetings, My name is Edgar Baez and I am a pastor for ImPerfect Ministries, as well as a lawyer. I have several other pastors that are interested in putting a coalition for unborn babies, but as I was conducting research, your organization came on top. Is there any way that… Read more »
Hi Edgardo – thanks for reaching out. I invite you to connect with Dean Nelson on our team. You can reach him at [email protected]. Thanks!
What was presented is a good argument for the proof of life. What is lacking is proof of humanity. Your attempt to include the Image of God is insufficient in its present state as to this date I have seen no IMAGE of the Soul which is in retrospect the… Read more »
Norbert – I certainly am glad you weren’t aborted. Life has its struggles, but we get to bear up under those struggles in community. And in many ways those struggles make us who we are. Life begins at conception, and that life is human. Apologies if that was confusing. Scientifically… Read more »
Are there any actual scientific links to your points that cannot be attributed to the pro-life agenda? When trying to discuss pro-life issues and the pro-choice debater demands a reputable link, I’m having a difficult time finding anything they are willing to accept.
Lisa – do you have a specific point you want another reference to? Most of these things are covered in most 9th grade biology textbooks, so there are numerous of those types of sources.
– If you say ‘life’ begins at conception, how do you explain identical twins and tetragametic chimeras? – Why doesn’t the mind play a role in your conception of personhood? – If you claim a zygote is a person with right to life, what does that entail for embryos in… Read more »
You might consider the book Embryo by Tollefson and George. It takes great care to explain the biology and science around life at conception. Though there is some mystery to twins, the fact that one may split off a few days after conception does not negate the fact that one… Read more »
I address your first two questions below. The claim that we are valuable is not based on “personhood,” which is subjective and arbitrary and has been used, in various forms, to discriminate against people for millennia. We are valuable because we are members of the human race, not because we… Read more »
Brian, Thank you for your work at the Human Coalition. Forty + years ago I had an abortion, which has haunted me for years. I have received healing counsel from my church and God, but I will never forgive myself. I have two wonderful daughters who are now mothers, God… Read more »
Cynthia – thank you for sharing your story – I know it is difficult. I hope, however, that you can forgive yourself. Since Christ has forgiven you (and He has), there is no need for you to hang on to your guilt. The cross paid for our sins, all sins,… Read more »
Nothing written here would surprise Aristotle if we could bring him back. Thanks Brian. As the supporters of global warming say, “The science is in.” Only in this case, the science truly is in and supports the pro-life position 100%.
I am a 69 year old father of seven children 5 daughters and 2 boys I cannot imagine my life without any one of them I pray every day for an end to the horrific crime of abortion What can I do to help the Human Coalition stop this crime… Read more »
Gary, we appreciate your prayers very much. You can join us in prayer through our app (www.prolifeapp.com), spread the word about what Human Coalition is doing, financial support the work (https://hucoprod.wpengine.com/save-a-child/), join us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/humancoalition), and get involved with your local pro-life pregnancy center. Blessings!
Thanks for your work. Stay strong!
Wonderful message from you.Thank you for all your hard work for the unborn. I support you and would like to make a donation toward an ultrasound machine but I cannot right now. After May 25th I can send a donation. To human life coalition I assume and I have a… Read more »
Thanks Margaret, in advance, for your kind support. You can send any mail to:
Human Coalition
PO Box 5052
Frisco, TX 75035
Thanks
Thank you!
I’m very thankful for all your info about human life (conception )extremely helpful. ..as a mother of fourteen /3 in heaven I’m thankful that thanks to my husband and church sisters and of course God that gave me a strength and courage I was able to choose LIFE REGARDLESS OF… Read more »
🙂 ! Well said!! God Bless You All Always !!!
I am appreciative of your efforts and information as to their being human from the first connection. I am appalled at the fact that there are those who have in mind the reduction of humans on this planet to the extent of 6 billion humans worldwide. I recognize that part… Read more »
Superb. This I can use to make a difference.
I am grateful to you and the Human Coalition for your good works and enlightening me with the 4 points. I’m going to make flash cards on my phone to recalled the 4 points and supporting background. On the topic of a ‘cell’ on another planet exclaimed by scientists as… Read more »
Yes great point, Doug. In fact Lacy and Connor’s Law criminalizes over 60 acts of violence against a pre-born child at any stage of development, yet a baby can be aborted for no reason at all. Horrible breach of social justice.
Thanks Brian for sharing with us your excellent points. I just wanted to add two points: First, haven’t you noticed? All those who are for abortion have already been born. Second, wasn’t Jesus only a few days old, when our Blessed Mother visited her cousin Elizabeth and yet St. John… Read more »
Indeed, you are correct on both excellent points.
I’m so happy some one is taking the ball and running with it in regards to preventing Abortion. Good luck on all y our indevers to thwart these people like planned Parent Hood. Thanks for sending me all the information on what your group is doing. Gerry Burr
You are very welcome, Gerry. Thanks for your interest.
In 1987, my girlfriend had an abortion in Dallas, Texas. I would claim that I was the father, but since the legal experts declared it was not a human being yet, I suppose I should carry no guilt or shame nor think of it as my child. In 1995 our… Read more »
I totally agree with all you wrote – when a woman becomes pregnant she becomes a mother & she needs to protect her child – she owes her child their life – if you are unable to care for that child after birth arrange for adoption – there are lots… Read more »
Satan has so many ways to assist us in going against the laws of God. Isn’t it about time the few people who truly follow the Lord, make themselves known, and start bringing this overwhelming sin to an end? Christ died for all of us, and the thanks he receives,… Read more »
Wonderful post with great information! The “L” in SLED actually stands for Level of development… (as location and environment are basically the same ). I use the SLED explanation frequently. …I first heard it explained by CCBR. Keep up the great work and I look forward to learning more from… Read more »
Yikes, you are absolutely correct. I made the change on the blog post. Nice catch.
I believe that for three reasons the mother does not have freedom of choice of what to do with her own body, as if she is free to choose to have an abortion. (1) When she becomes pregnant, she no longer owns her body, the baby owns it; and for… Read more »
Brian, It is simply a fact that the product of conception is alive, else it would be dead, and end of discussion; that human beings give reproductive life at conception to only more human beings, never to turtles, cabbage, horses, pineapples, or monkeys, so the life that human beings pass… Read more »
I love what you do and wish I could help but being retired and not prepared for it I have no money to donate. I pray for your success and I pray for the women to reach this conclusion and stop before they take this little life away.
Thanks Nancy. We’ll take those prayers!
I’ll continue to actively pray daily for this ongoing effort to savethe unborn and preborn that their mothers will choose life for them.
Thank you for this invaluable blog. I intend to share it with everyone on my personal contact and email lists.
God bless!
Thanks, Marsha. Let us know how we can help get the word out.
Dear Brian,
Thank you so much for this wonderful explanation.Being a “survivor” of the doctors instruction to my mother at the time of my birth I thank my mother and I daily give thanks to God for the life I was given.I am about to turn 79 yrs old!!
Wonderful Myrtle! I’m so glad your mother chose life. Happy Birthday!
Congratulations its very good.
Great information for LIFE!!
Great information for LIFE!
Absolutely love it! DNA fingerprinting technology, which came into existence back in 1984, proved that all life — human, eagle, turtle or what have you — begins at the moment of conception, at which point the DNA in the sperm and the DNA instantly recombines, and a new life is… Read more »
I meant to say the DNA in the sperm and the DNA in the egg instantly and later the, instead of they now disproved theory. Sorry. Note to self: Always proofread before hitting send button, not after.
Excellent example! Exposing this kind of hypocrisy is essential to making the case to ending abortion. The reminds me of what Jesus said when healing a man on the Sabbath in Mt 12:11-12: “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will… Read more »
Absolutely outstanding !!!
I know that life begins with conception. I hope everyone gets to see this information!!!
Proof that there is life at conception shows that the fetus is not just a group of cells like
an appendix as some people say.
I commend your work on behalf of the unborn. IMO, though, you are not reaching or getting through to the amount of women you need to because of one major issue. Those that would seriously consider abortion are usually nonreligious. When you come at them using a faith based criteria,… Read more »
The scientific point of view was the first point of the article. Not all women who find them selves in a crisis pregnancies are irreligious. The Biblical point of view can still be effective in many cases. Perhaps the most effective method is when they get to see their live… Read more »
Save the Storks is an awesome organization – great example.
Bottom line to this issue is not a matter of proving anything scientifically, or legally, or politically. It’s a moral issue. Everyone, even the most blatant atheists knows abortion is wrong. Proof is the guilt and shame every single woman experiences with abortion. Unless God intervenes, a person’s human nature,… Read more »
I agree that one might be more effective using non religious arguments to speak to non religious and I think you can on scientific and philosophical grounds. There are nearly 20% of non religious who are pro life (source – http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/03/11/yes-there-are-pro-life-atheists-out-there-heres-why-im-one-of-them/) – this was in 2012 so it would be… Read more »
Pictures of aborted humans are simply facts. There is no bad taste involved in simple facts.
Some studies actually show that most women seeking an abortion self-identify as Christians. Besides, to divorce this issue from faith ultimately defeats its purpose – what gives all life value is God’s purpose. And the scientific argument itself is too limited – this is a spiritual battle to be one,… Read more »
Truly amazing goal, worthy of scholars and commoners.
One way to defund Planned Parenthood is for the government to send us all an apology and part of our tax money back for making us be part of brutally murdering our future generation.
Praise God. Regretfully, women, in the 60s and prior, thought it was just a lump of flesh.
Thanks so much for the work you are doing here Brian. This site is a uplifting repose from all of the pro-abortion rhetoric that bombards us on a daily basis.
You are welcome, Bob, and thanks for the kind words.
Thank you for your efforts to help save unborn children from abortion.
May God bless your mission and multiply your resources.
I love the premise that tutor site is based on & completly agree with it. But please be specific when alluding to that part of God within the developing baby as his/her soul , God within us.
I agree that the single fertilized human egg cell is alive. But then so is a slug. Neither is a person.
One is a person.
Then I guess YOU’RE not a person, because you are what was in your mother’s womb.
Of course a tiny, less mature human being is a person! Did you not just read the scientific explanation above? The DNA of the more mature human organism is contained in the fertilized ovum. Forensics speak for themselves. The only “abrupt point” (going from being one thing to something different)… Read more »
So what would you say are the qualifications for a living being to be considered a person?
The comparison of a slug to a newly conceived human ignores the previous discussion, namely the scientific proof that from the moment of conception onward, the human is both alive and human. The scientific signature of humanity is the human DNA. The metaphysical reality, which was not the subject of… Read more »
We’re talking about human babies, not slugs. When did the slug become a slug? Answer, the same as a human baby, the moment the sperm penetrates the egg. I don’t know, but I assume a slug is hatched from an egg which had to be fertilized. Was the slug dead… Read more »
To be content with your comment I will need to think you’re joking. Science didn’t say every single living cell is human; only those conceived of humans’ material.
A slug does not have human DNA. There’s no comparison.
Some people would argue that there are people in this world such as yourself that are no better than a slug so that would imply that you are not a person either. Based on your statement it is only a matter of opinion as to what defines a person. Hitler… Read more »
Edith Stein would agree with you!
Of course if a slug is created from a slug it’s a slug. But if a child is conceieved! The former is a slug before birth and the other is a baby before birth. Not very hard to understand.
So Bob, Looking back you wouldn’t mind if someone had stepped on you as an embryo just like you’d stand on a slug at that point in your development as a human being? You were once a fertilized egg Bob so you can be thankful that your Mother didn’t opt… Read more »
Are you saying there’s no difference between a human egg cell and a slug?
Can you have a person without the baby in the womb? You can pretend for all you want that life doesn’t begin at conception – whatever helps you sleep at night but that doesn’t make it the truth. God have mercy on your soul.
Bob, that a single fertilized human egg cell is alive and therefore is a live human being is quite something, and quite enough. Whether that human being also is a person, citizen, subject, resident alien, son of a Medal of Honor winner entitled to attend West Point, or illegal alien… Read more »
Bob S wants to wait and see what the “living” cell turns into before calling it human. A fertilized egg has different chromosomes than it’s mother and father make it a unique living being.
Well done, a beautiful article with scientific proof.
And Bob, the DNA would prove that it is a person and not a slug. You may want to do some research on that if you’re still confused.
A human at conception has all the genetic components in their dna to determine characteristics of that person. These include everything from eye color to personality traits to God-given gifts & talents. Complete. Only needs time to grow. And, ‘you do not know when the spirit enters a child in… Read more »
“an alive human” is a person.
In reply to Bob Seidensticker: 1. It is misleading to say ‘single cell of fertilised egg’ – there is no such thing. Once fertilisation has occurred, the ovum (egg cell) ceases to exist and becomes a diploid cell (a zygote). This new cell is the start of a new human… Read more »
My two beautiful children are not slugs.
Bob Seidensticker, surely you can demonstrate love better than a slug: Would you tell a woman who lost her pre-born baby she merely just lost a slug?
I am an 85 yr. old woman. When I was pregnant, I was a MOTHER and I carried a CHILD! When my child was kicking and twisting and punching and I needed sleep, I sat in my rocking chair and rocked and hummed until it was soothed and quieted. In… Read more »
It is a wonderful concept that science is acknowledging what we Christians already knew. Life is sacred, at any age, and must be protected.
Amen, Diana
I am SO GLAD that this is a valued opinion. Absolutely I believe that life begins at conception! Abortion is basically murder and should be outlawed all over the world! I am not financially able to contribute, but I will pray for success!
I so agree with all you say, especially the LOVE!! I was very active in Montgomery’s early “Operation Rescue” operations from the beginning with Deborah. I saw some changes in some people, more from prayer and walking in love when sidewalk counseling. I didn’t know until a year later that… Read more »
Thanks and thanks for your hard work!
The Holy Bible gives straightforward information on these very points. Jeremiah 1:5, self explanatory in its plain sense meaning, is just one place in Gods Word covering the sanctity of life. It is my favorite with the three points of Gods proclamation: I made you, I sanctified you, I have… Read more »
Robert – correct, and we’ll look at further Biblical proof points as well.
Absolutely agree and am seeing hope from your studies providing the stubborn pro abortionists are open to this scientific proof that life begins at conception
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