Abortion.

"It's just a blob of cells."

This argument has always made no sense to me. It's alive- of course it's a blob of cells. We're all, scientifically speaking, blobs of cells. Cells are the building block of life. If it weren't cells, it wouldn't be alive.

However, it's not a blob at all. Let's look at fetus images at different weeks and talk about what it can do!

This is a 1 week old embryo. 

This is a 2 week old embryo.

This is a 6 week old embryo. These little buds will become the baby's arms and legs. The baby's heart beats almost twice as fast as ours. The baby's tongue and vocal chords are starting to form.

This is a 8 week old embryo. The nerve cells in the baby's brain are branching out to connect with one another. The baby's hands are flexed at the wrist and meet over the heart. 

This is a 12 week old fetus. Fingers and toes are developed, and the fetus can even open and close their hands. Internally, the reproductive, circulatory, and urinary systems are all at an advanced stage of development.

This is a 16 week old fetus. Thanks to those developing facial muscles, the baby is capable of making a few expressive frowns and squints, even at this early stage. He's making small side-to-side movements and perceiving light, although the eyelids are still sealed. If the fetus is female, she has ovaries. Her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. They have fingernails, hair follicles, can urinate, can swallow.

This is a 18 week old fetus. The baby's ears will begin to stand out from of the sides of the head and may even begin to register sounds. The baby's nose, and lips are all recognizable on an ultrasound. Eyelids, eyebrows, eyelashes, nails, and hair are formed, too!

They don't look the same and they don't all look like the version of babies we're used to, that's for sure. But they don't ever look like a parasite or a non-human either. I think fetal development is passionating and I love learning about how they're growing. I hope I taught you something!