Quality of life in the womb matters

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health have just published a study looking at the relationship between birth weight and brain development during the first three decades of life. Low birth weight for a full-term infant reflects less than optimal prenatal environment, typically because of the mother's poor nutrition, infections, toxic exposures, and stress. The researchers mapped brain development using brain scans from age 3 to 30. What they found was that low birth weight children had lower brain mass over time in areas critical for complex cognitive function and emotional regulation. In other words, the deck is stacked against low birth weight children in terms of increased risk for impaired learning ability, behavioral problems, and psychiatric disorders.

Thus, using over 1,000 brain scans, across three independent samples, we link subtle differences in prenatal growth, within ranges seen among the majority of human pregnancies, to protracted surface area alterations, that preferentially impact later-maturing associative cortices important for higher cognition. By mapping the sensitivity of postnatal human brain development to prenatal influences, our findings underline the potency of in utero life in shaping postnatal outcomes of neuroscientific and public health importance.

The bottom line is simple. If pregnant women do not receive adequate prenatal care, there is a very good chance their children will suffer because of cognitive and emotional difficulties that appear to persistent into adulthood.

Many claim to be pro-life. If all that means is that you oppose abortion, then you must think God is stupid. Opposing abortion requires no sacrifice. Protecting life starts with making sure all women have  proper nutrition, medical care, and decent living conditions throughout their pregnancy. Those things cost a great deal of money. Caring for the poor, sick, disabled, and old as required by the Lord gets even more expensive. Christ made it very clear that what you did not do for those in need, you did not do for Him.