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Youngsters informed that ‘life begins at fertilisation’ in new children’s book

A pro-life children’s book has been published which teaches children that life begins at fertilisation.

Authors Brooke Stanton and Christiane West published the colourfully illustrated children’s book “When You Became You” in November 2020. They said the book “takes you on a scientific journey through the stages of a human being’s life”.

The first page of the book reads: “Your humanity— the fact that your nature is a human nature— is what you have in common with all human beings. It does not matter what you look like, where you are from, how old you are, how young you are, if you can talk, if you can walk, if you can dance, or even if you aren’t born yet. You are a human being”.

The authors said that no one takes issue with any of these statements except the passage that refers to those not born yet. Stanton described seeing people reading the book who reacted to those words and said, “Oh this is pro-life science”.

“No, it’s not,” Stanton said. “This is actually the real science”.

The authors co-founded Contend Projects, a “secular, nonpartisan, science education nonprofit with the mission to spread accurate information and awareness about the biological science of human embryology and when a human being begins to exist”.

Author Christiane West said: “We can have an impact now on elementary school children and long-term impact on the culture, on the crisis of human life. Having a book that starts them off correctly and hopefully keeps them protected against false information later is part of the goal of this book as well”.

“When You Became You” teaches children that it is a “basic fact” that life begins at fertilisation, Stanton and West said.

“There are countless children’s books that teach children to care about the environment, but children also want to learn about their own science stories”.

Life begins at conception

A survey of 5,577 biologists in 2018 showed that 96% of respondents agreed that a human life begins at fertilization. Steve Jacobs, who conducted the the survey said: “The majority of the sample identified as liberal (89%), pro-choice (85%) and non-religious (63%).”

The leading embryology textbook, T.W. Sadler, Langman’s Medical Embryology states: “Development begins with fertilization, the process by which the male gamete, the sperm, and the female gamete, the oocyte, unite to give rise to a zygote”.

Another says: “[The zygote], formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being”.

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said:

“The basic facts of embryology, chiefly, that life begins at conception , is a well known fact, which is supported by 96% of biologists in the largest survey of biologists on this question. A science book for children which states this explicitly should not be controversial. Only an abortion ideology intent on dehumanising the human being in utero would attempt to deny such a well-established an obvious truism”.

Dear reader,

You may be surprised to learn that our 24-week abortion time limit is out of line with the majority of European Union countries, where the most common time limit for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds is 12 weeks gestation.

The latest guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine enables doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks. The latest research indicates that a significant number of babies born at 22 weeks gestation can survive outside the womb, and this number increases with proactive perinatal care.

This leaves a real contradiction in British law. In one room of a hospital, doctors could be working to save a baby born alive at 23 weeks whilst, in another room of that same hospital, a doctor could perform an abortion that would end the life of a baby at the same age.

The majority of the British population support reducing the time limit. Polling has shown that 70% of British women favour a reduction in the time limit from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or below.

Please click the button below to sign the petition to the Prime Minister, asking him to do everything in his power to reduce the abortion time limit.