Baby In The Womb

________________________________________________________________________

The following is a transcript of the February 25, 1990 airing of

The John Ankerberg Show. This transcript was taken from an audio

tape, so some names might be misspelled. For this, I apologize.

JOHN: Ninety percent of the 1.5 million abortions that are

committed in this country each year take place during the

first three months of pregnancy. That is, the first week

through the twelfth week. ProChoice people who argue

that a woman has the "right" to have an abortion admit

that there is no doubt that the child is alive, and that

it is human. But because it is *small*, or not fully

formed, they believe the child is not yet fully human.

Or not a person. Therefore, they think they can kill it.

Now, on this program you are going to see the scientific

evidence that PROVES the ProChoice argument is wrong in

asserting that the growing child is no more than a blob

of tissues or the "product of conception." You will see

the marvelous stages of a child's development in the

womb. You are also going to see the abortion techniques

used today to destroy human life.

But I'd like to begin with a tragic story. A father

walked into the delivery room of a hospital, and in a

rage, threw his newborn son against the floor, and killed

him. This man was charged with murder, and put in jail.

Ironically, he was punished for an act -- namely, killing

his son -- that could have been done by an abortionist

the previous day, without any penalty.

When I read this account, I thought, "There MUST be

SOMETHING wrong with our laws!" Why is a child only

protected twenty-four hours after it is born, and not

twenty-four hours before? Did the child change in some

significant way? No. Biologically, we know that there

is no difference in the child. So then, why does the

location of the infant inside or outside the womb make a

crucial difference to its moral status?

And let me ask you: Do you think there SHOULD be a

difference in the moral status of say, a nine-month-old

child in the womb as compared to a newborn baby? If you

say "no," then going back in time, when WOULD you judge

that the baby has changed SO SIGNIFICANTLY that it

doesn't DESERVE the right to be protected as a living

human being?

Well, to help you answer this question, let's look at the

baby as it develops in the womb through the different

stages of pregnancy. First, this is how the unborn child

looks in the womb at month five. That's right. Not the

ninth, eighth, seventh, or sixth month, but the fifth

month --- just twenty short weeks after conception. I

want you to notice that his body is fully formed. At

twenty weeks, sounds provoke him. His mother must

contend with his bouts of hiccups and repeated kicks and

punches. Babies at this stage relate to the moods and

emotions of their mother. This child's heart now pumps

THREE HUNDRED GALLONS of blood per day. Because of

modern technology, twenty-week-old babies in the womb are

now viable; that is, they can survive outside of their

mother's womb. Because of these scientific facts, the

majority of Americans believe abortion is morally wrong,

and should be LEGALLY PROHIBITED at this stage of

pregnancy and after. In fact, the state of Pennsylvania

has already enacted laws prohibiting abortion after

viability -- which they set at 24 weeks.

But if you would not permit abortions to take place at

this stage, what about earlier? Say, at four months?

Well, here is a sixteen-week-old child in the womb. You

can see that his face is taking on facial expressions.

Fine hair is growing on his head. His eyebrows and

eyelashes are apparent. His heart is regularly pumping

the blood through his body.

Do you think it is right that we permit children like

this to be destroyed? But if not at *this* stage of

pregnancy, how about at three months?

Here you can see the development of this twelve-week-old

baby's arms ... hands ... fingers ... and toes. His

entire body is sensitive to touch. The brain is

developed, and allows independent movement of limbs so

that the tiny baby can turn its head ... curl and fan

his toes ... and open and close his mouth. A twelve-

week-old child's genitals show a clear sexual

differentiation, and already contain primitive egg or

sperm cells.

I'd like you to listen to Dr. Bernard Nathanson's

comments concerning a twelve-week-old unborn child in the

womb.

NATHANSON: What we are looking at here is a depiction of the

development of this child in its prenatal stage of life,

from virtually the very beginnings, to the end of that

stage. We have here, a child at four weeks ... at eight

weeks ... at twelve weeks ... at sixteen weeks ... at

eighteen weeks ... at twenty weeks ... and at twenty-

eight weeks. As you can see, there is no revolutionary

or dramatic change in the form or in the substance of

this person throughout this developmental stage.

Now this little person, at twelve weeks, is a fully

formed, absolutely identifiable human being. He has had

brain waves for AT LEAST six weeks; his heart has been

functioning for perhaps eight weeks; and all the rest of

his human functions are indistinguishable from any of

ours.

JOHN: Let me ask you: Would you allow a child at twelve weeks

to be killed in the womb? Well, if not at twelve weeks,

would you allow children to be aborted at eight weeks?

The science of fetology tells us that from eight weeks to

twelve weeks, every organ in the baby's body is already

present. The heart beats similar to an adult's. The

stomach produces digestive juices. The liver makes blood

cells. The kidneys begin to function. Taste buds are

forming. Fingerprints have developed. The eyelids and

palms of the baby's hands are sensitive to touch. The

baby can suck its thumb at nine weeks.

Then science tells us, between the first and second

month -- actually only forty days from conception -- the

baby's brainwaves can be detected, recorded, and read.

The baby's facial features, along with the ears, nose,

lips and tongue, form with clarity. At eight weeks, the

eyes form and darken. The pigment is first produced

around the thirty-fifth day. Eyelids cover most of the

eyeball by the forty-fourth day; and soon after will seal

to protect the developing light-sensitive cells. From

eight weeks on, the child can feel pain. Science tells

us, from this time until adulthood, the changes in the

child's body will only be in dimension, and in the

refinement of working parts. The boy or girl growing in

the womb truly looks like a tiny, miniature baby at eight

weeks. Do you think that it's right that our society

allows these innocent ones to be destroyed?

But if not at eight weeks, or after four weeks, there's

only one other month that is not accounted for: that is

the thirty days that reach from the moment of conception,

to the fourth week of pregnancy. Concerning this time,

we MUST remember that it is now an undisputed scientific

FACT that life begins at conception. On what basis does

science state this?

It is on the basis that when 23 chromosomes from the

father unite with 23 chromosomes from the mother, a

unique, human, individual life -- consisting of 46

chromosomes -- comes into existence. No new genetic

information will be added to this individual person from

the moment of conception, until death.

It is also a scientific fact that 23 chromosomes from the

mother carry some 15,000 genes, that unite with the

15,000 genes carried by the chromosomes from the father.

At the moment of conception, these genes -- like letters

of a Divine alphabet -- mix and unite to spell out the

UNIQUE characteristics of the new person. The genetic

coding from the moment of conception is FIXED, and it

determines the color of the eyes, hair, and skin. The

facial features, the body type, and even certain

qualities of personality and intelligence.

All of this is why conception does not produce a

POTENTIAL human being, but rather an actual HUMAN BEING

with vast potential.

Science tells us that within 6 to 12 hours after the

nuclei have merged -- and the chromosomes have exchanged

genetic coding -- the fertilized egg divides into two

cells. After a time, the two divide into four; the four

into eight, and so on, creating after some two hundred

and sixty-six days a newborn baby, weighing approximately

7-1/2 pounds, and containing trillions upon trillions of

cells. By the end of only the third week, the backbone,

spinal column and nervous system of the child are already

forming. Simple kidneys... a liver ... and the digestive

tract are already taking shape. The baby's heart begins

to beat at three weeks -- just 21 days from conception,

and sets the rhythm of life for the rest of the

individual's existence. The brain begins to form and

soon will send out impulses through the child's body.

On the twenty-fourth day, the child has no arms or legs.

Then suddenly, just two days later, tiny buds for arms

appear; and in just another two days, legs begin to

appear.

Now what does science say about human life developing in

the womb? Is it fully human? Or is there some stage of

cell division before the body forms in which this life is

NOT human and then BECOMES human? Well, Professor Roth

of Harvard University Medical School has answered this

question clearly. He says, quote:

It is incorrect to say that the biological data

cannot be decisive. It IS scientifically correct

to say that an individual, human life begins at

conception, when the egg and the sperm join to

form the zygote. This developing human always is

a member of our species in all stages of its

life.

Endquote. Dr. Bongiovanni, professor of medicine at the

University of Pennsylvania Medical School has written,

quote:

Standard medical texts have long taught that

human life begins at conception. I am no more

prepared to say that these early stages of

development represent an incomplete human being

than I would be to say that the child prior to

the dramatic effects of puberty is not a human

being. This is human life at every stage.

Endquote. World-famous geneticist Dr. Jerome Lejeune,

professor of fundamental genetics at the University of

Descarte, Paris, France, declared this, quote:

Each individual has a very unique beginning the

MOMENT of its conception.

Endquote. The chairman of the Department of Medical

Genetics at the Mayo Clinic, Professor Hymie Gordan,

testified before the congress of the United States,

quote:

By all the criteria of molecular biology, life is

present from the MOMENT of conception. Now we

can say UNEQUIVOCALLY that the question of when

life begins is an established, scientific fact.

Endquote....

DR. C. EVERETT KOOP: I think that, ah, we have a very

interesting phenomenon in this country and that is the

tremendous interest and enthusiasm about test-tube

babies. And anybody who knows about the birth of the

first one, Louise Brown, has to recognize that, ah, life

begins at conception. If you could put a sperm and an

egg in a petri dish, and get a human being nine months

later -- with nothing being added to it except to put

that fertilized egg back in its mother's uterus -- you

KNOW that life begins at conception.

DR. BERNARD NATHANSON: Life in the uterus, before birth, is a

smooth continuum... and, ah, in that sense one cannot

designate at some point when life begins. There is no

barmitzvah in the uterus. It is merely life beginning

when it really begins. Now we've created it in the test-

tube; we've watched it start. We have seen the spark

struck in invitro fertilization -- when the sperm meets

the egg -- so that the question of when life begins is no

longer metaphysical, theological, legal, moral,

religious... it is absolutely scientific now and it has

been established to begin at conception.

JOHN: What difference does it make that human life begins at

conception and continues through all the stages of

development? Well, the important difference is this: IF

human life DOES begin at conception, then abortion -- at

ANY STAGE of the child's development, from conception on

-- is the killing of innocent human life. To deny this

fact is scientifically impossible. But in spite of the

scientific evidence, abortions continue.

Now, how ARE these human children destroyed in the womb?

I'd like you to listen as Dr. John Willke, president of

the National Right to Life organization in Washington,

D.C., explains the different techniques abortionists use

to kill these developing children. Also addressing this

issue is the former Surgeon General of the United States,

Dr. C. Everett Koop.

DR. JOHN C. WILLKE: Abortions are done with different techniques

at different ages. The earliest method of abortion --

that is when the baby is very small -- is a menstrual

extraction. That is an approach through the vagina,

through the mouth of the womb -- the cervix -- and a

small little tube is inserted and the developing baby is

... "disrupted," if you please, and, something like a

miscarriage is precipitated.

The most common type would be what we would call a

suction aspiration abortion. Now this would be

approximately two weeks late ... three weeks late for her

period, and up till, maybe about when the baby's about 3

months old. This is a vaginal approach. The

abortionist stretches open the mouth of the womb -- the

cervix -- then inserts into the cavity of the uterus --

the womb -- a hollow plastic tube about this long [1

foot]. This he attaches to a powerful suction. It's

about 29 times more powerful than your vacuum cleaner.

This rips the developing baby's body apart, and pulls it

out through that tube. Then the abortionist must cut and

slice the deeply-rooted afterbirth from the inner wall of

the womb. Now that is a "suction abortion."

At approximately the same age -- or a little beyond,

sometimes -- a D & C is done. Dilatation and Curettage.

Here the abortionist uses a loop-shaped steel knife,

reaches into the womb from below, slices the body of the

developing baby into pieces, drawing it out, and then

cuts the afterbirth away from the wall. Now that's up to

about three months.

Then there's a D & E -- Dilatation and Evacuation. This

is done after twelve weeks and up to as late as ... oh,

maybe four months. Here, we see the abortionist

stretching the cervix very wide open, but now he has a

very technical problem. The bones of the baby are

solidly calcified and the skull is very hard. What's

done here is that -- without any anesthetic -- the

abortionist reaches up into the womb and seizes a part of

the body of the baby, usually a leg or an arm, twisting

and tearing ... tears it off and away from the body of

the baby. The baby, feeling pain, does not have any

anesthetic. Bleeding is extreme. The abortionist

returns in there with this grasping, pliers-like

instrument, tearing more parts of the body away, snapping

the spine, and finally, the mechanical problem is to get

the skull out and so he usually has to crush the skull in

order to bring it out. That is a D & E.

Four months and above, another method is salt poisoning.

Here, the abortionist injects a needle through the

woman's abdomen and into the fluid sac -- the bag of

waters around the baby -- injects a poisonous solution of

concentrated salt. Now, recall the baby was breathing

and swallowing as early as three months. This is done at

four, four-and-a-half, five, six months. So the baby

breathes and swallows in this poison, and is slowly

poisoned by it. It takes two ... three hours usually to

kill this baby, sometimes convulsing as she dies, which

the mother feels. Then the mother's body gets the

message, goes into labor, and delivers vaginally a dead

baby about 24 hours later.

Well, mostly dead. Sometimes these little tykes are

still alive. They have even been known to survive to be

adopted out.

INTERVIEWER: Is there growing concern over late term abortions?

DR. C. EVERETT KOOP: No question about that. Ah, people are

easily led into thinking that abortions is unimportant.

If you use a semantic-kind of smoke-screen and refer to

the unborn baby as a fetus, or an embryo, or some

tissues, or the "product of conception" -- very hard to

use those terms to refer to a late abortion that looks

just like the baby next door.

DR. WILLKE: There's another type, a "prostaglandin" type.

Prostaglandin given at any stage of pregnancy causes

INTENSE labor. VIOLENT contractions of the uterus, and

vaginal delivery of the baby at whatever age the baby is.

Now, in the literature put out by the Upjohn Company --

we doctors always have "complications" and "precautions"

-- one of the complications: LIVE BIRTH [from the use of

prostalandin as an aborticide].

Complication.

Okay, the final type of abortion is a mini-cesarean

section, or a hysterotomy. Now this is just like any

other cesarean section: the mother's abdomen is opened,

the womb is opened surgically, pulled apart, the baby is

extracted and taken out.

Now, cesarean sections are very common. After this, the

baby is handed to the nurse who sucks out the phlem, gets

the little kid going, puts her in the warming bed -- the

incubator -- gives the baby all that tender loving care

...

Not now. This little kid has a contract on her head and

so the abortionist takes the baby out, cuts the cord,

throws the baby in the basin, and lets her die. And if

she doesn't die, it may be a head under water, or the

placenta on her face, and choke her to death.

You see, the baby, according to the abortionist, must not

survive, EVEN THOUGH SEPARATED FROM THE MOTHER.

DR. KOOP: And therefore late abortions are ... are rather an

embarrassment to people ... and remember that, ah, late

abortions are very commonly viable. And, ah, one of the

saddest things to me about the whole abortion business is

that what was a few years ago a womans RIGHT to an

abortion has now become a womans RIGHT to a dead baby

FOLLOWING abortion. And I think that's almost criminal.

JOHN: Now the Feminist Majority in their film, "Abortion for

Survival" have shown a suction aspiration abortion that

takes place in under two minutes. In their film, they

quickly show the audience the contents of the uterus:

what they call the "product of conception." And then

they say, "You see. This doesn't LOOK like a real baby."

So you may see for yourself what goes on, here's a

film clip and the testimony of some ladies that

experienced a similar aspiration abortion:

MONICA: ...um ... actually started to do the abortion, it was

at THAT moment, that for the first time, I realized that

was my BABY that was being aborted. That this whole

thing was NOT just a sickness -- as they tried to make it

seem -- but a child, my OWN child that was being

destroyed in that abortion. It was EXTREMELY painful,

physically. And, of course, I was going through a lot

emotionally, too. And, I, as soon as it was over I just

thought, "Thank God I'm alive." That was my first

thought.

INTERVIEWER OR THERAPIST: Yes, and you, Cindy, how did you feel?

CINDY: Well, physically it was painful. Not, um, it was VERY

painful and they did NOT tell you it would be this

painful ... you know ... and I was scared. I was scared

to death. I just lay on this table -- and I couldn't

really think of anything. I just -- all this physical

pain -- and I heard the vacuum, aspirator, whatever the

term is, it was on the floor, like next to me. And I

heard this humming noise, and I'm thinking, "Oh, my God,

Cindy, what are you doing? Now your baby --- it's --

and they're taking it from you, and it ... it ... just

like Monica had said, at that point I'm thinking ... I'm

hearing this noise, I'm laying there thinking, "My baby

... they're taking it from me!" and it was too late.

JOHN: What the Feminist Majority did NOT show in their film was

a close-up view of the "product of conception." If they

HAD shown you a close-up view of the remains of ANY

abortion done just 42 days after conception, you would

have seen small hands ... small feet ... arms and legs.

You would have seen twisted bodies, and crushed heads.

Yes, these babies are small, but is that any excuse to

kill them?

Even the first 30 days after conception when a human life

is developing through the early stages of cell division

and multiplication, there is no doubt SCIENTIFICALLY that

it is ALIVE, and it is FULLY HUMAN.

The scientific facts lead us to conclude that even at

THIS stage, abortion is the premeditated killing of human

life.

What reasons can be given for allowing abortion at any

stage?

Science has shown us that the growing child is NOT just a

blob of tissues; it's NOT part of the mother's body in

any way. Rather, science has shown us that the child in

the womb is an INDEPENDENT human being. Therefore,

wouldn't you agree that these innocent human beings --

these children in the womb -- they MUST be protected?

If we value human life at all, how can we allow abortions

to continue...?

THE JOHN ANKERBERG SHOW

P.O. BOX 8977

CHATTANOOGA, TN 37411

-30-

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þ EZ-Reader 1.14 þ Abortion is a woman's WRONG!

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