Womb Walking

From LifeDate - Fall 2004.

Womb Walking

by Rev. Dr. James I. Lamb, Executive Director - Lutherans For Life

“Walking” in the womb? Professor Stuart Campbell of London’s Create Health Clinic has perfected an ultrasound technique that not only produces 3D images, but also shows fetal movement in real time (4D). For example, he has produced pictures of a 12 week-old fetus “walking,” the same kind of movement of the legs seen when you hold a newborn under the arms with his or her feet dangling. Professor Campbell says his work shows for the first time that unborn babies engage in complex behavior very early in their lives. He states, “This is a new science for understanding and mapping out the behavior of the baby.” According to a BBC Internet news article (www.bbc.co.uk), the images have shown:

From 12 weeks, unborn babies can stretch, kick, and leap around the womb–well before the mother can feel movement.

From 18 weeks, they can open their eyes, although most doctors thought eyelids were fused until 26 weeks.

From 26 weeks, they appear to exhibit a whole range of typical baby behavior and moods, including scratching, smiling, crying, hiccupping, and sucking.

Conventional ultrasound, of course, has shown much of this for quite some time. But these 4D images make it all seem more real. As a spokeswoman for a British pro-life organization said, “The images show the delightful reality of the humanity of the unborn baby. We cannot believe that anybody could continue supporting abortion when they see these extraordinary pictures.” Other pro-lifers offered similar affirmations.

I agree. Ultrasound changes the minds of those considering abortion. It helps educate about the wonders of the womb. Its use should be encouraged for such things. Now if you are sensing a “but” coming here, you are right. But—a word of caution. Such technology may also run the risk of reinforcing the idea that our value is based upon what we can do as human beings rather than upon the fact that we are human beings.

A blastocyst—that five-day-old human being that is destroyed to obtain his or her stem cells—cannot smile or walk or hiccup. He or she, however, has as much value as a human being as the 12 week-old walking in the womb or the 16 year-old not wanting to walk and asking for the keys to the car! We need to be careful not to fall into the trap of giving value to the unborn only when they start looking like babies or behaving like babies. Otherwise we not only devalue those in earlier stages of development, but what happens if the ultrasound shows an abnormality and limited function? What happens after we are born and lose a particular function because of injury or disease or aging? It is not how we function but who we are that gives us value.

We who base our pro-life views on the Word of God can take that one step further. It is whose we are that gives us value. God is the author of life and the giver of life. We are His because He made us. We are His because He has “purchased and won us” through the once-upon-a-time blastocyst, Jesus Christ. The baby “walking” in the womb is someone created by God and redeemed by Jesus. But so is the blastocyst who doesn’t have legs yet and the child who can’t walk and the grandma who can’t remember.

Lutherans For Life is active at various levels in promoting and supporting ultrasound technology. One of our chapters purchased an ultrasound machine and provides a part time technician to offer free ultrasounds. Our state presidents have developed guidelines for initiating such a project. We will continue to share the message of the importance of showing what these little ones can do before they are born. It saves lives. We will also continue to share a message that goes further than assigning human value based on what a human can do. We will continue to share the fundamental, Biblical message of human value based on what God has done.