By Augustine Rogers
All human beings deserve respect because all humans have dignity. It is incredibly wrong to kill a preborn person because they, like us, are made in the image and likeness of God. A preborn baby is a person and deserves as much respect as anyone else. Deep down everyone knows it is wrong to kill because of natural law, and many laws are made against killing people. We can fully see that a human is a human from the very beginning because of what science has shown us about human development. A baby who is growing will never be anything but a human. Just as a strawberry seed can only grow into a strawberry once it’s planted, an embryo will only grow into different stages of a human as he or she continues to grow. Even though financial or health problems may make taking care of a baby hard, there are many ways to care for a baby and mother that do not include killing the baby, such as placing the baby for adoption or aiding the mother in raising her baby.
Natural, moral, and legal law all show us why it is wrong to kill and describe how abortion is murder. Natural law is scripted in everyone’s heart. When we are doing something that is not right and we know we are doing something that is not right, but we still do it, this is an example of ignoring natural law. Moral law tells us what is right and wrong. “You shall not kill,” the 5th Commandment, warns us. In 2004, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act was created in the United States, which recognizes an embryo or fetus in the uterus as a victim in over sixty federal crimes. Legally we can see that in many court cases when a woman and her preborn baby are killed, the murderer is charged with two murders.
Finally, we know that each baby is a unique human the instant he or she is conceived because no one has the same exact DNA. There are many amazing stages in the growth of a human, especially during the months in the mother’s womb. At six weeks, the baby’s heart starts to beat. On day forty-three, the baby starts having brain waves that can be detected. At four months the baby responds to outside noises, and at five months the baby will energetically respond and communicate with their mother through kicks and movement. When the baby has been in the womb for six months, the baby begins to grow fine hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes. During the final months of pregnancy, the baby focuses on gaining weight and growing bigger, and finally at nine months the baby is ready to be born.
Each of us is brought into the wonderful world which God made for us through this amazing growth process. We are called to care for others, especially the most vulnerable, such as preborn babies. All humanity deserves respect because every person is made in God’s image.
Augustine Rogers won an Honorable Mention in the middle school category of the Culture of Life Studies Program’s 2023 Pro-Life Essay Contest.
