When Did My Daughter Become A Human Being?

August 4th, 2024…

My wife took a pregnancy test to see if she were pregnant. She had missed her period, had been sick for a couple of weeks, and wasn’t sure what was going on with her body. On the test, there was a faint line that was unbelievable in her mind. We had been trying for 2 years up to this point, had undergone a couple of tests, and came to the conclusion that we were unable to have children. Of course she would find this unbelievable. I would have too! She kept the information to herself and moved on.

August 9th, 2024…

I’m awoken at 6:00 A.M. to a loud. “Tooooddddddd” from the bathroom (That’s my name by the way). In my mind there’s something wrong. Someone had broken in, or, arguably worse, she had fallen, hit her head on something, and was dazed and confused and needed to head to the hospital. So I thought. But, I entered the bathroom in a frenzy, saw she was ok, and annoyingly said, “What!?”

Smooth, right?

She pointed to something on the counter that was sitting there as if she wanted me to look at it. I thought it was bug…or a lizard.

I was wrong, of course.

It was a pregnancy test. She had taken another one and there was single line. I didn’t put 2 and 2 together. I said, “What!? What is this?” My suave demeanor hadn’t developed yet, apparently.

She took my hand and said: “Todd. Look at what it is. We’re pregnant!”

Instant joy filled my heart. We hugged and cried with excitement and immediately made plans to tell everyone we could once we received confirmation from the ultrasound technician. My wife and I booked an appointment with a clinic in Houma (far from where we are), received confirmation from some of the sweetest techs out there, and walked out floating on clouds. We were on cloud 9. Below is the first picture that we received: a picture of my and my wife’s daughter who is 5.5 weeks along at the time of the ultrasound.

We were instantly in love.

At What Point Does She Become Human?

As I reflect on my soon-to-be fatherhood, it has occurred to me that there is a camp out there that would refuse to believe that my daughter is a human being. In their mind, she’s a clump of cells, a parasite, an inconvenience, a harbinger of poverty and crushed dreams. She is a changed of plans and a killer of hopes.

It brings tears to my eyes to even consider such terms to be thrown at my daughter as she develops in the womb of my wife. My fatherhood to my daughterhood doesn’t start when she is born, it started on her day of conception. And, arguably. it started when my wife and I were discussing having children, as every decision I make from then on out, impacts the development of my child.

So again, when does she become a human being worthy of life?

Is It At 5.5 Weeks as Pictured Above…

…as she forms her brain and spinal cord, sits as her face takes shape, and her heart becomes to come together in the center her tiny body. Is it when her blood vessels are forming and the umbilical cord, the bridge to life that will nourish her with my wife’s sustenance is perfectly connected?

Is it when here hair, eye color, and sex are determined as is programmed by her DNA?

Does She Become Human at 9 Weeks? (Pictured below)

At this point, she is the size of a grape. She has eyes, her mouth is formed and she has her taste buds formed. Her hands and feet are coming together and her fingers and toes of my daughter begin to develop on the edge of her limbs. At this point, The heart, brain, lungs, and kidneys are all developing and movement can be detected on ultrasounds. And her heart beats about 170 times per minute. Is this when she becomes a human being?

Is it At 20 Weeks?

At 20 weeks, my daughter was about 6.3 inches from her head to her butt. She can hear outside of womb. All of the music, the video games, the laughter, the crying, the yelling of the teenage boys that we work with at our job. She can respond to loud noises that spook her.

Her skin is covered in a protective layer and her eyebrows, and nose become more defined along with her eyelashes. At 20 weeks, my daughter starts learning sleep cycles. And she learns to wake up. Her sex, though decided by her DNA at conception are easily distinguished by ultrasound pictures.

She kicks and punches and sucks her thumb. Her major organs continue to mature.

On top of all of this, her fingerprints, the snowflake of the human experience, are completely formed.

Is this when she becomes human?

At 23 Weeks…

She hears voices and a heartbeat. Her vision drastically improves. She even begins to have hiccups! In order to breathe later on, her lungs produce surfactant. She moves her muscles and becomes a dancer as she makes more forceful movements. My wife laughed at the amount of summersaults she would make.

Continuing On…

My wife and I have one more ultrasound appointment coming up shortly. She has been a healthy baby through the stress and frustration that the year has brought. We could not be more excited to see her. She moves so much that we make jokes about her being a swimmer or a gymnast or a soccer player. We pray that she continues to be healthy as we quickly approach her birth date.

When Did She Become Human?

Her DNA was sorted out upon her conception. In other words, the blueprints to her makeup are there for her cells to follow. From a scientific perspective she is a Human being from conception. My daughter, is and was, my daughter from conception.

Common sense dictates that she is a human being, even if her form looks similar to other species in the womb. After all, her DNA sets her apart. But, of course, common sense is not all too common when emotions are preferred over dialogue.

When a child in the womb is in a family that is facing poverty, the child is still a human being that is valuable and worthy of life.

If the child is a product of rape and assault, it is not the new formed child’s fault. And he or she should be protected by law while the perpetrator is punished severely for the violation of the autonomy and sacredness of another human being.

I want to emphasis the tragedy of the situation and how the community should rally around those who have been violated in such a way. The child’s life is still worthy and valuable.

In reality, a human being is value, is inherently worthy and dignified by the creator as men and women are made in his image. This value and worth extends to a human being no matter to the stage of development.

Of course an adult male as the same inherent worth as a toddler. A toddler has the same worth as a newborn. The newborn has the same value and worth as a fetus that is 8 months along. An 8 month-along fetus has the same worth an embryo which shares the same worth as a zygote.

I’ll let you think through the moral implications.