Romanticizing Embryos

For a long time now, abortion has been a extremely controversial subject throughout the United States. Opinions range a vast spectrum, from "abortion should be illegal" to "any abortion is ok." And between these two polar ends of the controversy, there are countless individually formed opinions. Even large ideological state apparatuses, like religious groups, have varying opinions. Christians believe that life starts at conception, that the human soul is implanted when sperm meets egg. Most schools of belief in Islamic faith allow abortions if the pregnancy is younger than 120 days (bbc). A popular argument of skeptics is that if the growing life inside the mother would not live on its own, it is acceptable to have an abortion. These people will not share the "romanticizing" of life through the belief of the soul. So how have anti-abortion people continued their attempts at convincing every one of the sanctity of life?

Pro-life advertising campaigns romanticize human life by giving embryos certain humanizing characteristics.


So what is playing with our emotions here? For one, the image of the adorable baby. The baby is completely sticking out from the background color, the photo was shot with the baby well lit and looking at the camera. It even shows some dexterity by folding cute little baby hands together. But there is more going on than just the baby. Bright blue and yellow colors make up the chosen palette, and they are both popular colors to paint a nursery. So now we have a baby looking directly at us, with nursery colors. This could be our baby! But the phrase is what really does the romantic work here. "7 months before I was born, I had fingerprints!" What is this doing for us? It humanizes the 8 week old embryo that has fingerprints. (Yes, it is still an embryo until 9 weeks.) Fingerprints are something that define us, they make us all unique. This billboard is arguing that at 8 weeks, the embryo is an individual. The billboard says that this could be your adorable baby, who is distinguishable through very human characteristics, and through a convention that has been used for years to identify people (e.g. ink print tests). What does this embryo really look like at 8 weeks?



This is an 8 week old embryo. I will admit, I actually find it kind of cute. Maybe even a little human, precious too. I don't think I could live with killing something that looked like this. But it has been built up to be something so much more than it is in the billboard. Fingerprints? Why do they even matter? At this point, it's hands and feet are still webbed, and the brain is still early in development. Its major organ systems have begun to form, but aren't functioning yet. For example, the heart is beating at this point, but the circulatory system is very primitive. It is also only 1/2 to 3/4 inches long. That's less than the diameter of a quarter. (My facts come from here)

Some of you may be angry at me. But please know that this blog post is not about pro-life or pro-choice. It's about the romanticism behind Pro-life advertisements. While the embryo is still precious and for some odd reason cute, the billboard way oversells the preciousness of human life. We saw how Robin's photo was beautiful, but didn't have giant snowy mountains in the background. Well, this embryo might be human life, but fingerprints don't matter and it does not look anywhere near what an infant looks like.