Blog: Why I Think Abortion Should be Banned – Part 1: The Science

“Trust the science.” It’s a phrase that we heard a lot during the COVID era. For example, we were told to “trust the science” that the vaccine worked; to “trust the science” that masks helped stop the spread; to “trust the science” that there were no dangerous side effects from the vaccine or its subsequent booster shots. Anyone who didn’t “trust the science” was labeled as a backwards, dangerous, bigoted, far-right extremist, QAnon conspiracy theorist with the insatiable urge to kill Grandma and thousands if not millions of other people by refusing to get the vaccine. Of course, “the science” turned out to be a steaming load of crap as people found that the vaccine actually did more harm than good and the masks didn’t work, but the Left continued to push for vaccine and mask mandates until the ever-senile Biden signed a bill in April of 2023 announcing that the pandemic that realistically had been over for two and a half years was officially over.

But you know what? The Left still claims that “the science” was legit. Why? Because it helped them gain power in a way that was completely unprecedented. Sure, it might’ve ruined and endangered people’s lives and not actually protected them from COVID, but it benefitted the fearmongering narrative that the Left wanted.

So why, in a post talking about abortion, do I bring up the COVID-era propaganda of “Trust the science?” How is this relevant to the conversation?

The reason why it’s relevant to this important conversation is because it highlights something that I think we should all be paying more attention to and that is how corrupt politicians, doctors, and others with enough money, connections, and influence can twist the science or completely ignore actual science to further their agenda. We see this quite often in the abortion debate as we’re bombarded with messages that a human fetus (a Latin word that in Greek translates to “émvryon” (from which we get “embryo”) which is similar to our English words “baby” or “child”) isn’t actually alive. We’re told that it’s just a clump of cells, that it can’t feel anything, etc. Abortion advocates tell us that this is “the science” and because it’s “the science” that we should automatically trust it. But is it really the science? What does the science actually say about when life begins?

Let’s start things off with a quick rundown of something that I learned about in long ago in middle school biology and that is the six criteria that something must meet in order to be considered alive. These things are what scientifically designate something as being alive:

1. Cellular organization: All living organisms are composed of one or more cells, which are considered the basic units of life.
2. Metabolism: Living organisms carry out various chemical reactions to obtain and use energy for growth, repair, and maintenance. This includes processes like respiration, digestion, and photosynthesis.
3. Homeostasis: The ability to maintain a stable internal environment despite changes in external conditions. This includes being able to regulate internal temperature, pH, and other physiological processes.
4. Growth and development: Living organisms grow and develop according to specific genetic instructions. This involves cell division, differentiation, and maturation.
5. Reproduction: The ability to produce new individuals, either sexually or asexually, to ensure the continuation of the species.
6. Response to stimuli: Living organisms can respond to environmental stimuli, such as light, temperature, and sound to maintain homeostasis and ensure survival.

It’s by these criteria that 96% of biologists, as well as the American College of Pediatricians and most public health and IVF professionals consider life to begin at conception. Before fertilization, the egg and sperm are also alive by these standards, each containing the genetic information from the father and the mother. However, when fertilization occurs, what had originally been the egg is now its own thing, with its own unique genetic makeup created through a combination of the mother and father’s DNA. The cells are alive, constantly splitting, evolving, and maturing into the cells necessary to keep you alive. While they might not look like a human just yet, these are human cells that are growing in stages, similar to how outside of the womb, being a toddler is just a stage of life.

By the first week of pregnancy, the fertilized egg is a zygote that is ready to continue growing in the womb. By the second week, the blastocyst (the thing that will create the placenta and the actual baby) embeds itself into the uterine lining and begins to split into two layers, one for the placenta and the other for the baby. By three weeks, the primitive streak forms in three distinct layers: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm, which will al develop into different organs and tissues. Meanwhile, the neural tube that will eventually develop into the brain and spinal cord forms, as well as the early development of the blood vessels and heart, which by the end of the week, starts to form a primitive structure and can begin beating. By four weeks, the embryo is the size of a poppy seed. The neural tube continues to develop and close, the heart begins to beat and pump blood, major organs such as the lungs, liver, and digestive tract begin forming, and the placenta continues to form, connecting the embryo to the mother and providing a way to get nutrients and get rid of waste.

Once again, though the baby is small at this point, it meets all the criteria for life. Before you say, “But M.J., what about response to stimuli? It can’t do that yet!” just know that that poppyseed-sized child actually can. Even a slight change in the uterine environment such as a chance nutrient supply, hormonal balance, and overall maternal health can have an impact on the baby’s development, even at four weeks.

By week 5, the child is still developing its organs and nervous system, and now, it has limb buds, which with develop into arms and legs. By week 6 (the time when the Heartbeat Bill would go into effect), the heart has started beating more rhythmically, pumping blood throughout the embryo’s body, the limb buds have become more pronounced, facial features such as the beginnings of the eyes and ears, and the structures that will become the jaw and mouth have started to form, and organs are still developing. By the end of the first trimester, the baby is 2.5-3 inches long, the heart is fully formed, the facial features are becoming more defined, limbs, fingers and toes are fully formed, the brain and spinal cord are developing and becoming more complex, nerves and muscles are starting to coordinate, and internal and sexual organs are developing.

Remember, that all happens in just 12 weeks. By the end of the second trimester (13-26 weeks), the fetus is 13.5-14 inches long; the baby is gaining defined features; the brain’s cerebral cortex is maturing; the lungs are developing; the digestive system is starting to work as the baby begins swallowing amniotic fluid, preparing the digestive tract for feeding after birth; the eyes are fully formed and the baby can open and close its eyelids; the ears are fully formed and the baby can respond to the mother’s voice and external noises; the baby can respond to tactile stimuli; it can move, stretch and practice breathing movements; the development of muscles and bones continues, making movements more coordinated; more fat begins to accumulate under the skin and a fine layer of hair covers the body, including the development of hair on the head and eyebrows; and the immune system begins to build itself up. This stage of development is so far along that if an early birth must happen, the baby is viable at 24 weeks and sometimes even as early as 22 or 23 weeks, though they often require medical intervention to survive. By the end of the third trimester, the baby is ready to be birthed and begin the new chapter of its life outside of the womb.

As a young woman, I am constantly amazed by this process. Though the criteria for life may be more rudimentary when the baby does just look like cells, they are there and get more complex as time goes on. It absolutely breaks my heart to see that in most states, you’re allowed to abort your baby up to 24-26 weeks and in states such as Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan, Alaska, Vermont, and New Jersey, there is no gestational limit to when you can abort your child. Remember, these are all ages where the baby could be viable outside of the womb and it’s in these cases that the abortionist often has to rip the baby limb from limb to get it out of the womb. It’s disgusting. It’s straight-up murder. If someone was on trial for doing that when the baby is outside of the womb, we would all want to shoot them in the head, but somehow, it’s okay as long as the baby is in the womb and the mother doesn’t want it.

Furthermore, as the rapper Tom MacDonald so aptly pointed out in his song, “People so Stupid,” it’s incredibly hypocritical for doctors, scientists, etc. to claim that a baby isn’t a life because “It’s just cells,” but then say that they’ve found life on Mars because some NASA rovers found evidence of ancient bacteria there. How is it that bacteria, which are also “just cells,” are taken more seriously than babies in the womb who have the potential to grow up and become great people? Make it make sense.

Then there’s the absolute lie that in states that have banned abortion that you won’t be able to get healthcare concerning cases where the fetus poses a threat to the mother (as in the case of ectopic pregnancies or miscarriages) or abnormal growths in the uterus. This is all vastly untrue. In states with abortion bans, they make exceptions for women all of those things, because 1). left untreated, both an ectopic pregnancy and a miscarriage can lead to hemorrhaging that can kill a woman and 2). abnormal growths in the womb do not equal a baby. They are often masses of quickly forming cells (that are not genetically different from the woman) that can cause all sorts of serious issues. To say that in states with abortion bans that you can’t get these removed is absurd by definition because an abortion is a termination of a pregnancy and in the case of abnormal growths, you are not pregnant.

Lastly, there’s the lie that women who get abortions face no mental health struggles after the fact. While all women’s experiences are different, studies have shown that women who have had an abortion are 3 times more likely to have depression than women of the same age who have not, have an 81% increased risk of having at least one mental issue afterwards, teen girls who have had an abortion are 10x more likely to attempt suicide than older woman who have had an abortion and are 4x more likely to be successful in killing themselves, 1.5% of women seek psychiatric help after having their abortion, self-harm rates are 70% higher in women who have had an abortion, and the list goes on. While I can agree with the article that this is caused by choices the mother made because of depression, it’s strange to me how mothers who have post-partum depression end up doing so much better than women who aborted their child. How come we aren’t hearing “the science” on that? How come when pro-lifers bring that up, pro-abortion advocates ignore the actual science and statistics that show that their stance is wrong and adamantly deny it? If you truly believe in looking at the science to get your facts, then you should be against abortion.

Until next time,

M.J.