By: Ivy Nichols – September 10, 2019

There is much debate over the question of when a fetus becomes a human being. Is it when its heart first starts beating? When the first brainwaves occur? When it is able to feel pain? When it is born and able to exist outside of its mother’s body? 

If any of these points are picked as the time at which personhood occurs, is the baby a person one hour before? One day before? 

The lack of agreement, scientifically and morally, on the topic leaves people with fuzzy answers and uncertainty about when a fetus or embryo truly becomes a person. 

Stages of Development During Pregnancy

There are many stages of development during pregnancy. During each stage there are physical advancements, until the time of birth, when a baby is ready to be born and survive in the outside world. 

At conception, the sperm and egg merge to create an independently functioning human organism, distinctly different in function from a cell. At this point, all the DNA needed to make a person is present, and the organism starts undertaking the job of becoming a fully functioning human being. The chromosomes that decide the sex of the baby are also present. 

One week later, the embryo implants itself into the uterus. 

Three weeks after conception, a heartbeat is present. During the fourth week, eyes and ears start to form. The brain also continues to develop. By the end of the first month, the arms, legs, brain, spinal cord and nerves have begun to form. 

After the fifth week, the fetus may start to move. At six weeks, brainwaves have started to occur, and the brain will grow at the speed of 250,000 neurons per minute until the 27th week post-conception. 

After seven weeks, the fetus “starts showing a preference for his right or left hand.” About this same time, the fetus becomes sensitive to pain. At the end of eight weeks, eight to ten of the primary organs will have formed, and all “structures are present in a rudimentary form.” 

During the third month (the end of the first trimester) fingers, toes and even buds for future teeth, as well as more basic structural parts such as bones and muscles, will have started growing. In the fourth month, the fetus can hear, and fingernails, eyebrows and eyelashes are forming. 

Five months from conception, a mother can feel the fetus’ movements, and it “sleeps and wakes on regular cycles.” At 22 weeks, or five and a half months, it is reasonably possible for premature babies to survive, although many of them end up with health problems. After the seventh month, the fetus can respond to music and other sounds, as well as light. 

From five and a half months onward, adequate resources and medical support can allow the premature baby to be born and have a reasonable chance at survival. The longer a baby stays inside, the more time organs, such as lungs, have to grow in the ideal environment. This results in a healthier baby, and in less time in the hospital after birth. 

After nine months, the baby is fully formed and ready to be born and continue life outside the womb. 

The baby will continue to form its depth, color and taste perception for several months post-birth, and will continue to develop its long-term memory until age four. The individual’s brain will not be fully formed until around age 25. 

Gradual Growth and Blurred Lines

As can be gathered from the above information, growth is a gradual process, with various elements we associate with personhood being picked up along the way. A heartbeat, brainwaves, sensitivity to pain, when it first moves, the ability to respond to outward stimuli such as music, and the ability to exist outside the womb – all occur at different times. It is anyone’s guess which element, or combination of them, defines personhood. 

Certainly, a baby is still a baby the day before it is born, but what about the day before that? What line can we draw that separates infanticide from choices that simply regard one’s own body? 

The BBC argues that when and whether a premature baby can survive outside its mother’s body depends on many different factors. The quality of medical care available, the level of scientific advancement, the race and sex of the baby, and whether or not its mother or other caregivers are able and willing to take care of it, all play into the baby’s chance of survival. 

They state: “[T]here is something unsatisfactory about a being’s rights being determined by its sex or race, the state of medical science, the state of medical facilities at a particular location, or the type of mother it has.” 

Similarly, Soroush Dabbagh, a writer for the Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, points out that there is no ontological change (that is, change in being) between a four-week-old embryo and a 36-week-old fetus. He argues that the organism that is growing to be a baby becomes bigger and more complicated and begins to look more similar to what we consider a person, which evokes emotional response in individuals, causing them to show more care for the safety of the fetus.  However, he says, there is no true difference in being that can justify an outlook considering one stage of development’s life as more valuable than another. 

Writing for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, Dr. Condic explains that shortly after conception, the entity formed by the sperm and the egg meets the criteria of the definition for an organism, as opposed to a cell. 

She says, “Importantly, the cells, tissues and organs produced during development do not somehow ‘generate’ the embryo (as if there were some unseen, mysterious ‘manufacturer’ directing this process), they are produced by the embryo as it directs its own development to more mature stages of human life.  This organized, coordinated behavior of the embryo is the defining characteristic of a human organism.” 

The definition specifies that organisms that meet the criteria are living beings; therefore, in this circumstance, human beings. 

This organism contains all the information necessary to create a human, and immediately begins a continuous process toward that goal, which culminates in birth, although the person continues to grow and develop long after that. 

Conclusion

Legally, causing a pregnant woman to miscarry in a car accident can cause the negligent party to be charged with wrongful death and/or vehicular manslaughter. Lawyer Darwyn Easley explains, “In essence, this expansion recognized unborn babies as protectable beings by law. In other words, fetuses were granted legal ‘personhood’ and are protected by the same laws that protect all people.” 

In Scripture, John the Baptist leapt for joy inside his mother Elizabeth’s womb when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, came to visit. Both unborn John and his mother recognized that the person of unborn Jesus was present, and that he was significant. This could not be the case if personhood did not occur during pregnancy, and even early during pregnancy, as Elizabeth was about six months along, and Mary was very newly pregnant. 

Scientifically, there is no point during pregnancy that can be looked at as the clear time a fetus or embryo becomes a human being. The defining moment is conception, with a gradual process following afterward. 

Legally, the death of a fetus is counted as a human death and is protected by law, except when killed through abortion. Scripturally, both a less than 3-week-old embryo and 6-month-old fetus were shown to have legitimate personhood. 

Considering these sources, conception is the most logical time to assign an embryo human being status.