Embryo Killing Essay

Bri sat staring at her clock. Seconds were slowly passing by as she held the pregnancy test in her hands, waiting for the result. “Just one more minute.” she thought. In the next minute, she would find out the result that would potentially change her life forever. A few seconds later, a little plus sign showed up on the stick in her hand. Her body went numb as thoughts of the future rushed through her mind. She called her boyfriend, broke the news, and almost immediately he hung up. “What now?” she questioned. She couldn’t have a baby at fifteen. She was only a child! Only three options stood before her. Parenthood, adoption, or abortion. Option three weighed heavily on her mind. For some people, especially teenagers, becoming pregnant is not an easy concept to take in. Most soon to be mothers are frightened by the fact that they will be carrying another life for the next nine months of their lives. But does being scared mean that it is a given right to take a life away? No matter the reason of the pregnancy, life is not for human hands to take away. Some people say, “I was raped” or “ This is a child of incest”. Though that child will be a constant reminder of a pain no one ever wants to remember, Deuteronomy 24:16 says, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin”. Throughout the pregnancy, God guarantees his protection over the mother and the child. Why then, if a greater power were protecting you, would you want to take away the potential life of the next generation? There are many beliefs about the moment life begins. Some say it is at the moment of conception. Others claim it is at the first breath of a newborn. But life actually begins to form two to five days after intercourse. The embryo is on its way to the uterus where it prepares for the new life form. About two weeks later, the egg and sperm unite creating a cell called a zygote. This zygote hold all the information for every genetic detail for the baby including color of the hair, color of the eyes, fingerprint details, even the height and skin tone. All these details are in this cell that is smaller than a grain of salt. By three weeks the embryo attaches to the lining of the uterus and is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Week five shows signs of a functioning heart. Signs of the brain and every other organ are beginning to develop. Around week six, only four weeks after fertilization, the basic structure of the baby’s nervous system has shaped. The little black specks and nubs are the eyes and ligaments beginning to form. An ultrasound will show that the heart is already beating at a rate of eighty times a minute. The baby starts generating its own blood at seven weeks and depending on the gender, signs of testicles or ovaries start to develop. The lungs, taste buds on the tongue, eyelids and jaw begin to form at week eight. If this doesn’t sound like a human then what does? Between weeks nine and fourteen, the baby has graduated from an embryo to a fetus. The fetus has now developed ears, a nose, bones, eggs and testosterone begin to produce, and it can suck its thumb, yawn and urinate. At week sixteen, the gender of the baby can now be seen. From week twenty to week thirty-four, the baby is still developing. It recognizes light, sound, and responds to its mother’s voice. Rapid eye movements also show the ability for the baby to dream. By week forty the baby is fully developed and the baby is ready to be born. (Dihle, The First 9 Months, 2010 Focus on the Family) With all this information on the process of development, how is it that even at week five, when the baby has a brain and a heart, a mother would want to take that away? It is baffling to know that many people do not understand the rapid development of a baby. Maybe if a pregnant woman knew more, she would think twice about the choice she was about to make. There are so many

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