When does life begin? Bethany Huffstutler

Imagine the beginning of a life. Scientifically, one would see the sperm cell and egg cell uniting. When these two cells combine, a new human life is formed. A whole new person. But compare the uniting of a sperm and an egg to a lightbulb and the socket on a lamp. When one plugs or attaches that lightbulb to the socket on the lamp, the light comes on. Just like one cannot use the lamp without both the lightbulb and the socket, a human being cannot become a human being without both the sperm and the egg. But once these two are united, a human being is formed. The moment when the sperm cell from the father unites with the egg inside the mother is when life begins (“Fetal Development: Week-by-Week Stages of Pregnancy” 2). This moment is often called conception. In the light scenario, the light comes on. Biologically, a human life is formed. Life begins at conception because preborn babies respond, develop, and exist as organisms. 

Preborn babies respond. They respond to sound. When babies hear loud noises such as drums, they can “jump” in the mother’s womb (Ask Dr. Sears 1). This shows that babies are capable of hearing before they are even born. They can even differentiate between types of music (Ask Dr. Sears 1-2). They respond to touch. Viola Marx conducted a study on what happens when a pregnant woman touches her abdomen, where the baby is. The fetuses studied “displayed more arm, head, and mouth movements when the mother touched her abdomen and decreased their arm and head movements to maternal voice” (“Fetal Behavioural Responses to Maternal Voice and Touch | PLOS One” 1). The baby can feel before he or she is even born. Preborn babies respond to sound and touch. 

Preborn babies develop. As an embryo, the baby develops the beginnings of organs. Arm and leg-like structures form. The baby starts to look like a human. Internally, the heart, brain, and spinal cord begin to form. As a fetus, the organs continue to grow and develop. Fingernails, hair, and eyelashes appear. When the baby is born, if all goes well, all these organs are formed enough to survive outside of the womb (“Fetal Development: Week-by-Week Stages of Pregnancy” 2-3). And finally, preborn babies develop an identity. While the baby may not even know the word “identity,” each baby is different. Each has his or her own way of acting. He or she has a special and unique set of genes that will manifest itself in the baby’s outward and inward characteristics. The baby will be either a boy or a girl. The baby will have blue, brown, gray, green, or a combination of those color eyes. The baby will be tall, average height, or short. No two babies are the same in what they think, feel, or look like. Preborn babies develop their human characteristics. 

Preborn babies exist. They exist not just as cell bundles, but as independent organisms. If the preborn baby was just a bundle of cells, the baby would not be able to create tissues or organs. The difference between some cells and an organism is control. Dr. Maureen Condic wrote on the Charlotte Lozier Institute’s website, “Yet under no circumstances do mere human cells produce the kind of coordinated interactions necessary for building a fully integrated human body. They do not produce tissues in a coherent manner and do not organize them so as to sustain the life of the entity as a whole” (Condic et al. 4). A cell bundle does what the brain tells it to do. An organism does the telling. The cell bundle is attached to something else that tells it what to do. In an article from Science and Culture Today, Michael Egnor writes, “Every living cell or group of cells is either an individual member of a species or a part of an individual member of a species. There are no unclassified living things” (Egnor 3). A preborn baby makes all of its structures itself. The baby is in the mother’s womb, attached to her body by the umbilical cord, but the mother’s brain does not dictate how the embryo develops. The mother and the embryo are two separate people. Preborn babies exist as independent organisms. 

The Bible has much to say on the beginning of life. Luke 1:41-44 says that John the Baptist was a person before he was born. He had human emotions before he was born. Psalm 139:16 says, “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” God knew each person before he or she was born. He had a plan for every single person before that person was even conceived. Babies, like all human beings, are made in the image of God. 

Humans go by many names. Embryo, human being, Homo sapiens, teenager, blastocyst, senior citizen, toddler, fetus, adult, child– all these are names for humans. Just because a human is young does not mean the human is not to be considered alive. Like a puppy is still a dog and a kitten is still a cat, a preborn baby is still a living human. Justifying ending the life of a preborn baby is justifying murdering humans. The moment that a life begins is conception. If one compares the beginning of a life to plugging in a lightbulb to a socket, the beginning of a life would be when the light turns on. Life begins at conception because preborn babies respond, develop, and exist as organisms. The Bible shows us that preborn babies are alive. What will you do to speak for these unborn babies to ensure that they have a chance to live outside of the womb? 

Works Cited 

Ask Dr. Sears. “Ask Dr. Sears.” 7 Ways to Bond With Preborn Baby, https://www.askdrsears.com/news/sears-family-blog/7-ways-bond-preborn-baby/. Accessed 5 December 2025. 

Condic, Maureen, et al. “A Scientific View of When Life Begins.” Lozier Institute, 11 June 2014, https://lozierinstitute.org/a-scientific-view-of-when-life-begins/. Accessed 5 December 2025. 

Egnor, Michael. If a Fetus Isn’t a Human Being, What Is It?, 11 May 2022, https://scienceandculture.com/2022/05/if-a-fetus-isnt-a-human-being-what-is-it/. Accessed 5 December 2025. 

“Fetal Behavioural Responses to Maternal Voice and Touch | PLOS One.” Research journals, 8 June 2015, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0129118. Accessed 5 December 2025. 

“Fetal Development: Week-by-Week Stages of Pregnancy.” Cleveland Clinic, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7247-fetal-development-stages-of-growth. Accessed 5 December 2025. 

Bethany Huffstutler