Baby Noah

 

12 Weeks with Noah

By Sarah Jones Zagorski, Communications Director, Louisiana Right to Life
Note: “12 Weeks with Noah” was the most read story on LifeNews.com this past week, with 127,000 shares.
Baby Noah died from a spontaneous miscarriage on February 20th, 2014. His mother, Lara, named him Noah because it means “rest” and “peace”. Noah was only 12 weeks and 5 days old when he died. Even though he passed away, his perfectly formed body displays the development of a new human life, the most spectacular miracle on earth.
From the very start, a preborn human meets all of the criteria needed to establish biological life and secures his place in the human family. The child is metabolizing nutrition, moving, growing, can react to stimuli and contains the genetic potential necessary to reproduce. At only 18 to 22 days old, he begins to circulate his own blood, often times with a blood type unique to that of his mothers. In fact, his tiny heart will beat nearly 54 million times before he is even born.
At six-weeks-old, the child’s eyes and eyelids, nose, mouth and tongue have formed and electrical brain activity can be observed. In his first twelve weeks of life, critical systems are set in place, like the circulatory, nervous, and digestive system, and vital organs are not only fully formed, but are beginning to function. Remarkably, the most dramatic changes in a human’s development occur during this fragile stage. The science is clear: a unique, distinct human life has begun.
However, these members of the human family are the most marginalized of society. Through abortion, they are killed at a staggering rate. Worse yet, these tiny humans cannot speak to defend themselves, and the laws of our land permit their destruction. Without a trail, a jury, or defense, these little lives are extinguished before they even see the light of day.

In America, the most common abortion procedure is the suction curettage abortion. In fact, nearly ninety percent occur before the end of the mothers’ first trimester. The abortionist uses a suction machine to remove the child and then uses a loop-shaped knife called a curette to scrape the remaining body parts out of the mothers’ uterus.

Many think that this sort of brutality is limited to procedures performed during late abortions. However, this is how ex-abortionist, Dr. Grant Clark, describes first trimester abortions done by suction:

“… That was probably the most difficult part of the abortion procedure with the suction abortions… you had to go through what you suctioned out of the uterus and identify perfectly formed little arms and legs and little hands… the skulls were usually crushed.”

In twenty minutes or less, the baby is dead.

In order to move this reality from the abstract to the concrete, sometimes humanity needs a nudge and a reminder of who these children are. We need more than the scientific data, statistics and cold hard facts. Instead, we need empirical evidence to move our emotions and our senses. Sometimes when words are not enough, we need to see what these humans look like. We need a face.
For today, Noah is that face. His age was within range of when the majority of abortions are performed. While all the concrete facts prove their humanity, this image of Noah speaks for itself.
Noah’s mother, Lara, said the following about Noah:

“Even though he only lived for twelve weeks, Noah was special to me. I am blessed that I was able to hold him, to see that he was real. Just like every other mother, this first photo of my child will always be special to me. I am devastated that we lost Noah, but I know that his 12 weeks of life had a purpose. His body reveals the miracle of human life. If he could help show one mother considering abortion the beauty of her child, then our loss would be worth it.”

Noah, may you rest in peace. We pray that our nation will see in you the intrinsic value that every human life possesses, no matter how small or frail.
Editor’s note. This appeared at prolifelouisiana.org

Source: NRLC News