Modern technology is an amazing thing. At a family gathering over the weekend, my cousin and I were having a discussion with my father and our uncle about how much easier school was for us than it was for our parents. When our parent’s generation needed to do research, they had to take books out of the library, and if they were lucky those books had an index in them to help them find what they needed. Fast forward a generation, and my cousin and I were able to do the same research from the comfort of our dorm room in our pajamas on a desktop computer. Now, our children can do the same research from a tablet or smart phone…who knows how their children will be able to access information!
Medical technology has come a long way as well. Diseases like malaria or smallpox, once a death sentence, are now preventable. Disorders like Down syndrome are far better understood now than they once were….and become more and more so every year.
Technology in the area of fetal monitoring has improved dramatically as well. When I was in my mother’s womb, my parents were lucky to hear my heart beating. Now, doctors can take a 3d ultrasound image of a child in the mother’s womb, print it on a 3D printer, and give it to the child’s blind mother so she can “see” what her baby looks like. Who knows what they’ll be able to do by the time I am anticipating a grandchild!
Of course, there will always be science deniers. In the case of medical technology, the science deniers are abortion advocates. They continue to claim the child growing in the mother’s womb is just a “bunch of cells” despite the window to the womb ultrasound technology has become. They deny viability despite being able to see a child dance, clap, and react in utero. Ignoring the technology that allows surgery to be performed on babies in the womb, they continue to deny the babies’ “personhood”.
The truth is, you don’t have to be a “religious zealot” (as these science deniers like to call us in the pro-life movement) to recognize life when we see it. Thanks to modern technology, we can see the heart beating by 3 weeks, reflexive movement after 6 weeks, and spontaneous movement before 8 weeks (I’ll never forget the delight of my wife and I, watching my son kick/punch the TV remote off my wife’s stomach). We can watch them practicing breathing by week 11, and by four months, nostrils and toenails become visible.
Once a baby is born, his or her proud parents are understandably excited to share the baby’s milestones—their trip home from the hospital, first bath, sitting up, eating foods for the first time, rolling over, crawling, walking, first words etc. Thanks to the power of technology found in ultrasound, we don’t have to wait for milestones outside the womb…we can celebrate their tiny milestones of life and growth before meeting them face-to-face!