By Diane Mckelva
We live in a world of conundrums. The pro-life movement is a perfect example. During the news coverage of the March for Life rally in Washington DC, I was struck by the term that many pro-life advocates continue to use when speaking about a child in the womb: unborn. Of all the prefixes that we could use in referring to the precious life in the womb, I have yet to determine why the term unborn was chosen. More perplexing, since it is an established fact (a unified consensus of both scientific community and pro-life advocates) that life begins upon fertilization, why do we continue to use the term un-born?
In distinguishing when life begins, Dr. Keith L. Moore, PhD, DSc, FIAC, FRSM, FAAA, one of the most respected anatomists and embryologists, says:
“[The Zygote] results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm … unites with a female gamete or oocyte … to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.” [The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th ed. Keith L. Moore, Ph.D. & T.V.N. Persaud, Md., (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), 2-18]It’s not surprising that in our current culture, we might unconsciously gravitate toward the prefix “un-”. You don’t have to look very far to witness our fascination, and in some instances the unhealthy obsession with the un-living. First and foremost is our continued support and endorsement of abortion; legally killing to date over 1.4 billion children in the womb. Then there is the television show The Walking Dead that many people follow religiously. Then there is this whole culture of people that are preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse. (Don’t roll your eyes. Even the US Center for Disease Control has a webpage devoted to the ridiculous phenomenon.) Then, of course, we have the fascination with vampires that has been fostered and promoted by genre writers like Ann Rice and Stephanie Meyer, and immortalized by Hollywood.
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Diane McKelva is an American writer, essayist and columnist, sharing stories of the human experience that touch each one of us in our life’s journey. She is a Southern writer, born in Kentucky and raised in Tennessee, where she resides with her husband, children, dogs, and a lone cat with an attitude.
When I think of 'unborn', I think of a temporary condition, like 'unconscious'. Both birth and waking up end that condition.
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