Fetal Animals May Reframe the Abortion Debate

So what is that "blob of tissue" in the photo at left? It's pretty obvious that it's an elephant, though this elephant is still in its mother's womb. Pretty darn cute, huh?

And how about this little guy on the right? That's a fetal dolphin, which at this point in development is already swimming around in its mother.

Kathleen Parker writes today at RealClearPolitics that these photos, along with other films obtained by the National Geographic, could help reframe the entire abortion debate:

When does an elephant become an elephant? That is the question.

At least it's the one that popped into my mind as I viewed images from an upcoming National Geographic documentary: "In the Womb: Animals.''

The film, scheduled to air Dec. 10, may be the best weapon yet for the pro-life movement. That wasn't the purpose of the documentary -- the first ever to record animals in the womb -- but these images of gestating life pack a powerful wallop.

The mind makes a natural leap to questions of how we consider and treat the pre-born.

Let's just say that the thought of aborting a baby elephant, even in the earliest gestational stages, is repugnant in a way that transcends intellectual arguments about constitutional rights to privacy...

Other stars of the film are a puppy and a dolphin. We watch the golden retriever fetus perform full-grown dog behaviors in the womb, a dolphin learn to swim inside its mother, and the elephant grow from a single cell to a 260-pound, well, elephant.

Seeing similar images of a human fetus -- blinking, sucking his thumb and responding to sounds -- is equally amazing, of course. But something about these animals in utero breathes fresh air into the life debate.

Why? Because they're so adorable, helpless and vulnerable. It's the puppy reflex. With the exception of the occasional mass murderer, people see a puppy and go Awwww. They want to cuddle it.

Most people have the same reflex with human babies, too, but as a society, we've managed to emotionally distance ourselves from the human fetus. To think of it as cute or human would make abortion a much tougher choice.

Parker thinks this film could be a valuable tool in educating future generations:

Now we have another tool. That is, if we're really serious about reducing abortion. Take "In the Womb'' to every classroom in America and let students do their own free-associating. When the tears are dry -- audiences reportedly weep at this film -- abortion will seem inconceivable. Who could destroy an unborn puppy?

We Americans are suckers for animals, often displaying greater empathy for them than for people. Be honest. In movie battle scenes, whose deaths bother you more -- men's or the horses'? Thought so.

Walt Disney figured this out a long time ago. He anthropomorphized a cartoon creature named Bambi and deer hunters have been despised ever since. Show children and teenagers Dumbo, Flipper and Old Yeller in the womb, and they'll extrapolate all by themselves. No fire and brimstone necessary.

Parker's got a point. We definitely react differently to animals than we do to humans, and perhaps this film could prove to be an important tool in reminding us all of the miracle of a single cell becoming a person...or an elephant, dog or dolphin, and the importance of not interrupting that process through abortion.