Just as God spoke to Elijah in a gentle whisper, our nascent brothers and sisters also speak to us in soft whispers to us from within the womb. Although we may not typically be able to hear or understand them, the sounds they create still exist–just as a deaf person may not be able to hear a heartbeat or a squeaky wheel. Nonetheless, the heart makes its unique sound, and the squeaky wheel still needs oil.
We make sounds throughout life, from the very beginnings of our lives to the last moments. The sounds that emanate from the earliest stages of human life are so gentle that it may still take many years until technology sufficiently advances so that we can discern more of these “little” noises.
Today we can see the humanity of a baby in the womb. But many people, including me until recently, believe we can\’t hear vocal sounds from a pre-born child. We know by listening to the fetal heartbeat that there are heartbeat sounds from the baby, but is there more to be heard?
When a woman hears her baby\’s sound in the womb, she then knows that she is with a child and not a “choice.” Because she is more informed in this regard, she is less likely to choose abortion. Abortionists who say they are for “choice” vehemently fight to prevent a woman from seeing and hearing her baby in the womb. The pro-abortionists talk about choice but always fight against informed choice.
With future technological advances, we can expect more and more detectable sounds from the youngest living humans. It’s just a matter of time until we can amplify the youngest humans’ sounds and find that each one has a unique vocal “footprint” just as we all have our unique voices. Before our vocal cords develop, we still produce sounds from the building of our DNA. Since everyone has different DNA, one may logically think the tiny sounds produced in the replication of the DNA must also be different.
When I first heard that babies can make vocal sounds inside the womb, I was surprised, but upon further thought, considering modern technology, this isn’t surprising. Since we can listen to a baby’s heartbeat early in life, it’s not surprising that we can also hear vocal sounds from the amniotic fluid passing through the larynx. What I had heard about was surprising after learning the vocal sounds were heard without amplification.
As early as 1730, there have been many cases of documented vagitus uterinus (i.e., the audible crying of a fetus in utero).1 Knowing that a fetus in the womb can sometimes be heard crying is an inconvenient truth that abortion advocates would rather not hear.
Since January 22, 1973, untold millions of our brothers and sisters in the U.S., created in the image and likeness of God, have been legally “terminated.” While we are most often unable to hear theses voices during our earthly life, perhaps Congressman Henry Hyde was correct when he said:
“When the time comes, as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God — and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there\’ll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world — and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, ‘Spare him, because he loved us!'”
Before the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that led to legal abortion on demand throughout the country, there was an abortionist named Bernard Nathanson, MD, who was doing everything he could to promote the legalization of abortion. He documented later in his life the many lies, such as the grossly exaggerated number of illegal abortion deaths, that were told to support changing abortion laws.2
Dr. Nathanson was a prominent figure in both the fight for abortion and then later against abortion. As technology opened the window to the womb, Nathanson looked inside. He said, “For the first time, we could really see the human fetus, measure it, watch it, and indeed bond with it and love it.” After his conversion to Christianity and the pro-life movement, he became well known for the 1984 documentary film “The Silent Scream.”
Dr. Nathanson narrated the documentary with the latest ultrasound images that showed grainy images of a 12-week-old fetus. Before the abortion, Nathanson describes a child peacefully residing in the sanctuary of the womb. During the abortion, he says, “Once again, we see the child’s mouth wide open in a silent scream. For the first time, we are going to watch a child being torn apart, dismembered, disarticulated, crushed and destroyed by the unfeeling steel instruments of the abortionist.”
With our enhanced ability to see and listen inside the womb, a similar documentary today would be even more horrific. A scream inside the womb would undoubtedly be different compared to a child at rest. Today, Nathanson may have called his documentary “Scream in the Womb.”
Just as the squeaky wheel needs oil even if we can\’t hear it, the baby in the womb needs nutrition and protection even if we can\’t easily hear the child. Abortionists who abort babies know that they can be seen and heard but refuse to acknowledge their existence.
What happens when an “unwanted” nascent child in the womb meets an abortionist? Before an abortion, the sounds of life emanate and surround the womb. After an abortion, the sounds cease and are forever silenced. Not even a gentle whisper remains.
1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/sdfe/pdf/download/eid/1-s2.0-0002937848904645/first-page-pdf
2. Nathanson, B. N. (1996). The Hand of God: A journey from death to life by the abortion doctor who changed his mind. Washington, D.C: Regnery Publishing.