Nikki Haley, one of the first Republicans to enter the 2024 presidential race, recently appeared on “CBS Mornings” to discuss why she defines herself as “unapologetically pro-life.” In that appearance, Haley emphasized the need to “humanize” the issue of abortion.
During the interview, Haley said pro-abortion and pro-life politicians need to find a way to agree on abortion. “We can agree: Let’s stop late-term abortions. Let’s make sure that if doctors and nurses don’t believe in abortion, they shouldn’t have to perform them,” she said. “Let’s encourage more adoptions and make sure our children in foster care feel love. Let’s make sure contraception is accessible. And let’s say that if a woman has an abortion, she shouldn’t go to jail or get the death penalty. Let’s start there. And instead of demonizing the issue, let’s humanize the issue.”
These are all important — but abortion is an unjust, inhuman act against human beings who have been dehumanized for decades. Humanizing the people killed by abortion is vital. Society and politicians cannot humanize a procedure that has as its intent and purpose to kill innocent human beings.
One of the primary reasons that people find abortion acceptable is because preborn children are frequently dehumanized in the media and pro-abortion language. From denying that preborn children have heartbeats to calling them nothing more than “blobs of tissue,” abortion advocates deny that preborn children are human beings on a regular basis. But the scientific reality is quite clear: induced abortion intentionally takes the lives of living humans every single day.
Live Action’s Baby Olivia campaign showed, through medically accurate animation, the development of human life from the first moment of fertilization, and how a preborn child grows inside her mother’s womb. One of Live Action’s sources for Baby Olivia was the Endowment for Human Development (EHD), a bioethically neutral non-profit organization with a mission of improving health science education and public health. It was further reviewed and authenticated by multiple medical experts, including Dr. David Bolender, Ph.D., Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin; Dr. Donna Harrison (AAPLOG); Dr. Tara Sander Lee (Charlotte Lozier); Dr. Katrina Furth (Charlotte Lozier); Michelle Cretella, MD, Executive Director of the American College of Pediatricians; and Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA (Ethics), Senior VP Bioethics and Public Policy.
Throughout the video, Olivia is seen developing from fertilization to birth, showing the clear humanity of preborn children with scientific facts and milestones like hiccups, kicks, yawns, and light reflex.
In the first trimester alone, there is incredible development taking place. At fertilization, the new human being’s sex, hair color, eye color, and countless other traits are already determined, thanks to her unique, individual DNA, which exists at fertilization. Just three weeks after fertilization, the heart is already beating. By six weeks, brain activity can be recorded, and bones have begun forming. By 11 weeks, she can suck her thumb, swallow, touch her face, sigh, stretch, make facial expressions, grasp objects, and sense touch.
By the second trimester, there are speaking movements taking place in her voice box, and the baby’s mother can begin feeling her movements. She can hear at 20 weeks. At 27 weeks her pupils react to light and by 32 weeks she recognizes her mother’s voice.
The humanity of preborn children isn’t a moral or religious belief up for debate; it’s a scientific fact. When humanizing the issue of abortion, the first people we need to remember are the smallest, most vulnerable ones; the people who are the target of abortion.
