Fetus has Brain Three Weeks in, so Let it Live

They would question the intelligence of the unborn, they would.

A pig has more intelligence, one posted posted as we debated on Facebook. He argued that it does not matter whether the fetus has a heartbeat as early as 18 days in, it (make that he or she) has no right to life if it cannot think.

But, truth be told, the baby's brain is also developing just three weeks in.

At birth, the baby's brain contains about 100 billion neurons, virtually all it will need for the rest of its life. Do not say that this has happened just right before birth. Just four weeks from conception, the neurons are being created at an astonishing rate, a quarter of a million each minute.

The question becomes then, not whether the fetus has a brain, but whether it is operable. If the fetus is thinking, then of course it is living. Another Facebook poster provided a link saying neurological activity (electrical activity) can be detected as early as 22 weeks in. Supposing brain waves mean thinking, then, a baby surely should not be aborted after 22 weeks.

But, do we know no thoughts are occurring unless electrical activity is present? Do we know that? Because, if we are wrong, then we are taking the life of a child. If the brain is developing just three weeks conception, perhaps some forms of thought are also forming.

Do we say, perhaps, but not enough? There may be thoughts, but the brain activity is not adequate enough to call the fetus a human? Forbid that, if among those already born, we took life away from those we judged to not have enough intelligence. Why would it be any different with the unborn? Why should we take their lives because their intelligence is not considered adequate?