2008 US Presidential Election - Page 46

I have a few thoughts that I wanted to share regarding the argument "My body, my choice" and your assertion that the baby's body is simply part of the mothers body.

Here are some facts:

1. The human body has a built in way to discriminate between "self" and "non-self". Part of this is called the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) which is a protein embedded in every cells that is "self" and tells you what is you and what isn't. If something is not "you" then your body will attack it (I'm cutting out a lot of technical science so this is readable). So here is the kicker. The mother's body does not recognize the baby's cells as "self". This is because not a singe cell fo the baby was created by the mother. The baby began as a single cell with a unique genetic makeup from a mix of its father and mother. That cell divides a bagillion times until the baby is ready to be born. The cells created by the mother were never "welded" onto the baby. That baby made it by itself.

So why call the baby part of the mother, when the mother's body identifies it as "non-self" and would attack it and destroy it if it could? This is partly why the mother's immune system is suppressed during pregnancy.

2. The baby made his own blood. NONE of it came from his mother, and they never mix. The blood made by the babys body and other accessory parts of what the BABY has made including the yolk sac. Many babies don't even have the same blood type as their mother and if their blood mixed, it would result in an sensitivity reaction.

3. The baby HAS ITS OWN CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. The mother cannot "flex" her baby's muscles. Even her autonomic nervous system cannot act on the baby. No ganglia from the mother extend to and innervate effectors within the baby. The baby kicks and swims and swallows all from its own neural impulses and not the mother's.

4. The mother's role during the pregnancy is to provide nutrients and sugar to the baby (same thing breast milk does). Also, she does the work of the baby's kidneys. And most importantly, her blood delivers oxygen to the baby's blood. She also provides a good and stable environment for the baby to grow in. Her roles after the baby is born are to: provide nutrients and sugar by way of breast milk and provide a safe and stable environment for the baby to grow.

The primary difference between what a mother does for her baby during pregnancy as opposed to after is that she is no longer doing the work of the baby's kidneys and lungs. If this is what you think makes the baby not human, then patients on a ventilator and dialysis are not human either, but just part of the "machine" they are connected to.

5. DNA defines who we are. You see a crime scene with DNA evidence, you can look at the DNA and say, this is the DNA of so-and-so. The baby has a unique DNA sequence. It is NOT the mother's.



The baby has its own brain, its own MHC complex defining "self", its own blood, its own DNA, and its own autonomy (it decides when it moves). That the unborn baby is totally dependent on its mother for the continuation of its life is irrelevant because the baby that is BORN is also completely dependent on her for the continuation of its life. Dependence on its mother does not make it un-human or un-alive.

So....this post was ONLY to cover the science behind the claim that the baby is "the mother's body". There is a lot more that could be said about abortion, but this post only addresses that issue.