When does life begin?

Science has been able to prove that life starts at conception. As soon as an egg has been fertilized, it is one cell. But that cell has all the genetic information and potential to become a human being just like you or me. At 30 weeks, a baby can possibly recognize voices outside the womb and feel pain.

At 26 weeks, the eyes are partially open and the baby blinks often. It also feels pain. At 21 weeks, if the baby is born, it has a good chance of survival. At 20 weeks, hair is present. At 16 weeks, the baby's fingerprint is fully formed. At 14 weeks, the baby can move its arms, legs, lips, head, mouth, wrist, toes and feet. And it is thought that, even then, the baby feels pain. At 10 weeks, the baby's brain is growing quickly and it has sockets for all its teeth. At 18 days, the baby's heart is developing and its eyes are forming.

If you look in a recent medical dictionary, you'll read that life begins at implanation. However, if you ask a scientist, they will reply that it begins at conception. Why is this? So they can sell "morning after" pills. The owner of Oregon's largest abortion clinic, testifying under oath, said "Of course human life begins at conception". And this is a woman who runs an abortion clinic!

What does the Bible have to say about abortion? "Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb", Isaiah 44:2. God forms every child in the womb. Every human is "fearfully and wonderfully made" in God's image. We are not just another animal. The unborn human beings suffer horrible deaths we would wish on no one, yet condone for the murder of babies. And they feel that pain.

Once, a baby was removed from its mother's womb and left on a tray to die with no further ado. The abortion was performed at a certain part of the baby's development when it could survive outside the womb. The baby's screams were so awful that a nurse at the clinic eventually couldn't take them anymore, wrapped the baby in a blanket and took it home. The baby lived.

Those of us who have heard the Christmas story know that Herod killed all the babies two and under to keep himself in power. This was a horrible thing to do. But it's nothing compared to the murder of unborn children. Ever since abortion was legalized, over forty million babies have been legally murdered. Mary O'Bryan Drum said, "After a woman is pregnant, she cannot choose whether or not she wishes to become a mother. She already is... all that is left to decide is whether she will deliver her baby dead or alive."

We are turning a blind eye to the murder of children, all of whom had a plan, fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. We need to turn a seeing eye to it and stand up against it.

With genetic testing, it is now possible to determine many things about a baby before it born. It is routine to run a genetic test in order to ensure that a baby is healthy and normal. If the baby will not be "normal" the parents are given the choice not to continue the pregnancy (which could also be translated as "have an abortion".) Some people consider it wrong to bring into the world a child who will not be "normal". For many people with inherited disabilities, the idea of testing for disabilities is offensive. To them, it means they are not special human beings like everyone.

In the book and movie My Sister's Keeper, two parents have a "designer baby" genetically created to be a blood/organ donor for her sister with cancer (which could also be translated to "spare parts".) Nowadays, families with genetic diseases can arrange to have such a baby. The DNA of each fertilized egg is examined for the defect that passes on the disease. When one is found without the defect, it is placed in the womb.

However, not every such baby is created because of a genetic defect. Some, like the one in My Sister's Keeper, are designed with a certain blood type. Some are created to have certain characteristics, such as black hair or blue eyes. Perhaps the parents wanted a boy or girl. It is becoming easier and cheaper to have a "designer baby", and it causes young couples to make difficult decisions.

Seeing Double

In July 1996, it was announced that a sheep had been been born at the Roslin Insitute near Edinburgh, Scotland. What was so amazing about this? Dolly was the first clone. She was very famous. A sweater knitted from her wool was placed in a museum. She had several sheep of her own, none of them clones and all healthy. Everyone talked about how humans would be next. But what is cloning, really?

Cloning comes from the Latin root meaning "to cut from". A clone is an organism grown from a single cell of the parent, genetically identical to the parent. To clone Dolly, they took the nucleus from a sheep egg and replaced it with the nucleus from a sheep cell. A little chemical manipulation and "Hello, Dolly". Cloning creates nothing new, it just makes a copy, like having an identical twin.

What happened to Dolly? At three, she showed signs of premature aging, and she passed away at age six - a young age for a sheep. "Goodbye, Dolly" didn't make the news a lot. But why did she die? Because of the cell that was put into the egg. The DNA was six years old when she was born. The egg that was used to produce her came from a six year old sheep, which made her genes six years old when she was born, meaning she aged faster and died a horrible death. Every cloned animal has died a horrible death.

We did not invent cloning. God did. If you've ever grown strawberries, you'll know that runners come off the plants, new plants for next year. These runners are actually clones of the plant. Some types of female insects produce eggs that, when hatched, produce clones of themselves.

Is cloning immoral? For my part, I have no problem with the idea of cloning plants and animals, if our intentions in doing so are right, such as attempting to cure a disease. We were granted dominion over them, and although we shouldn't abuse it, we can do many positive things through cloning plants and animals. We were not, however, given dominion over other humans. Think about it. God said we must not kill other people, but we were told it is alright to kill and eat animals. And furthermore, humans were meant to have two parents (although this is not always the case), but a cloned human could never. This goes directly against the Bible.

DNA

DNA is short for deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is what carries the instructions God put into us for what we look like and how our bodies work. Every species of organism has it, except for bacteria. Birds are born with DNA that makes them able to fly. We humans are all different. Some of us are tall, some of us have brown eyes, some of us have curly hair. But humans are generally not born with feathers.

A chromosome is a long strand of DNA wrapped around proteins. A gene is a length of DNA. Our genes are arranged along the chromosome like beads. Each chromosome has many genes. Within a species, a gene for a certain characteristic, such as black hair or blue eyes, is always on the same place on the same chromosome.

Each cell has two copies of each gene, one from each parent. These two same genes are called alleles. The combination of alleles is what makes each individual unique. The number of possible combinations is practically countless, with the thousands of genes in a chromosome.

A cell duplicates its chromosomes, its DNA, before it divides. A DNA is not a single molecule but is, instead, a double one. This gives it the ability to divide and reproduce. DNA is like a twisted zipper, with the bases the interlocking teeth of the zipper.

When DNA is duplicated, the two strands of DNA separate. The zipper unfastens. Enzymes, special proteins that control the speed of chemical reactions in the cell, bring nucleotides, small subunits on the chains of DNA, to the two DNA strands. The nucleotides link up with exposed bases and join together to form new strands attached to the originals. The result is two double strands.

Fertilization

For a flowering plant to reproduce, the male cells (pollen) and the female cells (ovule) have to join together. This is called fertilization. When a grain of pollen lands on the stigma (the sticky part of the carpel, see my last post) it forms into a pollen tube (the tube that transports male cells to the ovule at the bottom of the pistil). The pollen tube goes down into the ovary and enters an ovule through a tiny hole, the microphyle.

A pollen grain contains two male nuclei. These go down the pollen tube and join the contents of the ovule. One forms a zygote, which is the first cell of the new organism. The other creates a layer of tissue called endosperm, These become a seed. The ovary becomes a fruit. The plant no longer needs the rest of its parts and it dies.

Some plants do not need to be pollinated. The bee orchid, for example, attracts a certain type of bee by looking and smelling like a female bee, but if no bees come, its stamens will bend over and transfer pollen to the stigma.

Cell Division

Cells have the ability to divide in order create new cells for growth or repair. The process, cell division, occurs in two stages. The first stage, mitosis, is when the nucleus divides into two parts, which each become a new nucleus. The two nuclei, called daughter nuclei, are identical copies of the original.

The second stage of cell division is called cytokinesis. A dividing line called the cell plate forms. It runs down the middle of the cytoplasm. (Cytoplasm is the gel-like substance inside a cell in which organelles are suspended. And organelles are the small parts inside a plant or animal cell.) New cell walls build up along the cell plate. These separate the new cells.

Reproduction is the creation of new life. All living things contain the parts needed for reproduction. In flowers, these produce male and female cells called gametes, which join to create new plants. The many specialized parts of flowers include petals, stamens (the male parts of the plants), and one or more carpels (the female parts). In most flowers, the petals are arranged around the reproductive organs. Before a plant blooms, it produces a bud, which eventually develops into a flower. It grows from the receptacle, which is the extended stalk tip. The buds are surrounded by the leaf-like sepals.

A flower's male reproductive parts are stamens. A stamen is made of an anther, a pod-like structure which contains pollen sacks, at the end of a stalk called a filament. When an anther opens, it releases grains of pollen, male reproductive cells. A female's reproductive part is the carpel or pistil. It is made up of the stigma, the top part, which has a sticky surface for pollen to stick to, the style, and the ovaries, each of which holds one or more tiny eggs. The tiny eggs are the female reproductive cells, which develop into seeds after they are fertilized.

Some flowers, like buttercups, have several carpels, while others, like poppies, have only one. Flowers that have male and female parts are described as hermaphrodite. Some plants have two types of flowers - pistillate flowers, which are female, and staminate flowers, which are male. These are called monoecious plants. Other plants, like holly, have only male or female flowers on them and require another plant for fertilization. These are dioecious plants.