Pro-Life Editorial Response

Dear Mr. Shawn Nauman,

This letter is in response to your March 1, 1995 editorial regarding abortion. It must have been very tough at times, growing up with parents who were so young and unprepared for a child. I must commend your parents for doing such a wonderful job of raising a son who grew up to be so vocal with his opinions and thoughts. I realize with your mother being a teenager at the time of your conception, and with the timing of her pregnancy, with regards to the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, that the issue of abortion is perhaps an issue that is very personal one. You make some heart-touching statements in your writing, such as, “she gave up her life so that she could give me mine,” and “I have the pleasure of knowing I am living because she loved me.” I must admit though, it caught me entirely off guard when I got to the point in your column that you revealed that you were indeed pro-choice. You seem like the perfect candidate for someone who would be preaching pro-life.

Mr. Nauman, I ask you, how does your conscience allow you to encourage pro-choice behavior when you know that abortion means murdering a human being? You may contend that a fetus does not fit the profile of a human being because the fetus is not a living human being before birth. Basic biological knowledge easily defeats this statement. Once sperm enters into the vagina, it travels through the cervix and into the Fallopian tubes. Conception usually takes place in the outer third of the Fallopian tube. A single sperm penetrates the mother's egg cell and the developing child gets half of its genetic information, in the form of DNA, from the mother, which resides inside in the egg, and half from the father, which is found in the sperm. The resulting single cell is called a zygote. The zygote spends the next few days traveling down the Fallopian tube and divides to form many attached cells. A ball of cells is produced, each cell including a copy of the genes that will guide the development of the baby. Once about 32 cells have developed, biologists term the developing baby as a morula. With additional cell division, the morula becomes an outer shell of cells with an attached inner group of cells. The developing baby now enters the "blastocyst" stage. The outer group of cells will become the membranes that nourish and protect the inner group of cells, which will become the embryo.

The blastocyst reaches the uterus at roughly the fifth day, and implants into the uterine wall around the sixth day. At this point in the mother's menstrual cycle, the endometrium, or the lining of the uterus, has grown and becomes prepared to support a fetus. The blastocyst adheres tightly to the endometrium where it receives nourishment via the mother's bloodstream. During the time between implantation and the eighth week, the cells of the newly developed embryo, not only multiply, but begin to take on specific functions, during a process called differentiation.

Rapid growth now takes place and the main external features begin to take form. During this critical period of differentiation the growing baby becomes extremely susceptible to damage from external sources such as teratogens. Teratogens are substances that cause birth defects such as alcohol and certain prescription and recreational drugs. Infection, radiation, and nutritional deficiencies may also be defined as teratogens also.

From here on several different changes take place each week until birth. In week