Stages Of Fetal Development And Other Scientific Facts....

· Day 1 - conception takes place.

· 7 days - tiny human implants in mother’s uterus.
· 10 days - mother’s menses stop.
· 18 days - heart begins to beat.
· 21 days - pumps own blood through separate closed circulatory system with own blood type.
· 28 days - eye, ear and respiratory system begin to form.
· 42 days - brain waves recorded, skeleton complete, reflexes present.
· 7 weeks - photo of thumbsucking.
· 8 weeks - all body systems present.
· 9 weeks - squints, swallows, moves tongue, makes fist.
· 11 weeks - spontaneous breathing movements, has fingernails, all body systems working.
· 12 weeks - weighs one ounce.
· 16 weeks - genital organs clearly differentiated, grasps with hands, swims, kicks, turns, somersaults, (still   not felt by the mother.)
· 18 weeks - vocal cords work – can cry.
· 20 weeks - has hair on head, weighs one pound, 12 inches long.
· 23 weeks - 15% chance of viability outside of womb if birth premature.*
· 24 weeks - 56% of babies survive premature birth.*
· 25 weeks - 79% of babies survive premature birth.*
(*Source: M. Allen et. al., "The Limits of Viability." New England Journal
of Medicine. 11/25/93: Vol. 329, No. 22, p. 1597.)
http://www.prolife.com/FETALDEV.html

The following is a great article and I encourage you all to read it:

When Does Human Life Begin?

Doctors Testify to U.S. Senate
Many internationally-known geneticists and biologists have testified that human life begins at conception. In 1981 (April 23-24) a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee held hearings on the very question: When does human life begin? Following are testimonies from two of the doctors who testified:

1. Dr. Hymie Gordon, Chairman of the Department of Genetics at the Mayo Clinic, said: "By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception."

2. Dr. McCarthy de Mere, a medical doctor and law professor at the University of Tennessee, testified: "The exact moment of the beginning of personhood and of the human body is at the moment of conception."

"The Father of Modern Genetics" Testifies

Dr. Jerome Lejeune, known as "The Father of Modern Genetics," also testified that human life begins at conception before the Louisiana Legislature's House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice on June 7, 1990.

Dr. Lejeune explained that within three to seven days after fertilization we can determine if the new human being is a boy or a girl. "At no time," Dr. Lejeune said, "is the human being a blob of protoplasm. As far as your nature is concerned, I see no difference between the early person that you were at conception and the late person which you are now. You were, and are, a human being."

Dr. Lejeune also pointed out that each human being is unique -- different from the mother -- from the moment of conception. He said, "Recent discoveries by Dr. Alec Jeffreys of England demonstrate that this information [on the DNA molecule] is stored by a system of bar codes not unlike those found on products at the supermarket...it's not any longer a theory that each of us is unique."

Dr. Jerome Lejeune died on April 3, 1994. Dr. Lejeune of Paris, France was a medical doctor, a Doctor of Science and a professor of Fundamental Genetics for over twenty years. Dr. Lejeune discovered the genetic cause of Down Syndrome, receiving the Kennedy Prize for the discovery and, in addition, received the Memorial Allen Award Medal, the world's highest award for work in the field of Genetics. He practiced his profession at the Hôpital des Enfants Malades (Sick Children's Hospital) in Paris. Dr. Lejeune was a member of the American Academy of the Arts and Science, a member of the Royal Society of Medicine in London, The Royal Society of Science in Stockholm, the Science Academy in Italy and Argentina, The Pontifical Academy of Science and The Academy of Medicine in France. http://www.prolife.com/FETALDEV.html