Your life started nine months before you were born, and that’s the same for every child.

Fetus is just a latin term for little one – we were all once that tiny and vulnerable. Every unborn baby is a human being who deserve protection.

    

10 amazing facts that about your life before birth

  1. At the moment of conception, a new life is formed. There is no other point where we can say our life begins. 23 chromosomes from both parents combine to create a unique individual human being and everything about that new person is coded into their DNA from that first cell. “[The zygote], formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being.” Keith L. Moore, Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2008. p. 2.
  2. The heart begins to beat 21 days after fertilization
  3. At 3 weeks, all three primary sections of your brain are identifiable and brainwaves can be recorded at six weeks
  4. Arm buds develop by week 4, by week 6, fingers are starting to form and by week 10, fingernails are starting to form
  5. At 8 weeks the baby is fully formed and may be sucking her thumb
  6. Unborn babies show signs of left or right handedness as early as 8 weeks.
  7. Fingerprints begin to emerge by week 10 and at this stage foot prints are already engraved in the baby’s skin
  8. By 8 weeks after fertilization, the unborn child begins to react to touch.
  9. At 20 weeks babies can recognize their mother’s voices
  10. Babies born as early as 21 weeks have survived. In Ireland, baby Sive McDonald was born at just 23 weeks in 2010, weighing less than a pound, and is now thriving.

 

@ 42 days

Human embryo @ 42 days Photo Credit: Dr Rainer Jonas

@ 56 days

Human embryo @ 56 Days Photo Credit: Dr Rainer Jonas

@ 7-8 weeks

Human embryo @ 7-8 weeks Photo Credit: Lunar Caustic

@ 8 weeks

Human embryo @ 8 weeks Photo Credit: Life Issues Institute

Feet and legs @ 8 weeks

Human embryo @ 8 weeks Photo Credit: Life Issues Institute

@ 10 weeks

Human foetus @ 10 weeks Photo Credit: Dr. Suprana

Feet @ 11 weeks

Human foetus @ 11 weeks Photo Credit: Life Issues Institute

@ 3.5 months

Human foetus @ 3.5 months Photo Credit: Life Issues Institute

 

 

Remember

  • Abortion campaigners try to create a conflict between the baby and the mother, but there are two people involved in every pregnancy and we can support and protect them both.
  • This is not about forcing women to carry babies, rather it is about recognising that there are two people in every pregnancy, and abortion kills one of them. We can do better than the medieval solution of abortion.

(Facts 2-9: The Endowment for Human Development, www.ehd.org)